UK Labour pressures PM with Brexit customs union call

COVENTRY, United Kingdom – British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Monday, February 26, called for a new customs union with the European Union after Brexit in a policy shift that could force Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May to change course.

Just days before a keynote speech by May on her desired future trading relationship with the European Union, Corbyn drew a clear line between Labour’s policy and that of the government.

“Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe,” Corbyn told an audience in Coventry, central England.

This would also “help avoid any need whatsoever for a hard border in Northern Ireland”, where the prospect of a return of customs checks has prompted concern about the fragile peace in the province.

‘Colony’ of EU

His commitment puts the veteran left-winger in the unusual position of aligning with the Confederation of British Industry, the country’s big business lobby.

Britain is currently part of the EU’s customs union, which has a common external tariff on imports, allowing goods to move freely inside the area.

May’s government has ruled out a new union after Brexit in March 2019 because such agreements preclude members from doing their own trade deals with other countries.

Corbyn said any such agreement would “need to ensure the UK has a say in future trade deals”, saying Britain should not become a “mere rule-taker”.

But he stressed Labour’s priority was protecting people’s jobs and living standards.

Citing the example of integrated supply chains in the car industry, he argued that it “makes no sense” for Britain to turn its back on “tariff-free trading rules that have served us well”.

Labour’s position ups the pressure on May ahead of a major speech on Friday, and drew a sharp response from leading eurosceptics in her Conservative party.

“Corbyn’s Brexit plan would leave the UK a colony of the EU – unable to take back control of our borders or our trade policy,” Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Twitter.

Referring to the trade talks in Brussels which are due to start in April, he added that the speech was a “white flag from Labour before talks even begin”.

Bring down the government

The prime minister’s spokesman was unequivocal about May’s position, saying: “The government will not be joining a customs union. 

“We want to have the freedom to sign our own trade deals and to reach out into the world.”

But a group of Conservative rebel MPs disagree, and have tabled an amendment to a draft bill going through parliament calling for a new customs union.

Corbyn made an appeal Monday to “MPs of all parties, prepared to put the people’s interests before ideological fantasies” to join his position.

The Conservatives only have a slim majority in the House of Commons, thanks to support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists (DUP).

DUP lawmaker Sammy Wilson accused Corbyn of a “blatant attempt to bring down the government”.

Some members of Corbyn’s own party are also unhappy, suggesting that maintaining close ties with the EU is a betrayal of the 2016 vote for Brexit.

“It’s the latest wheeze by the well-oiled machine in this country to undo the referendum,” eurosceptic Labour MP Frank Field told the Daily Telegraph. 

But Corbyn urged critics to “think this through”.

“People voted to leave the EU. That’s the result, we respect that. They did not vote to lose their jobs,” he told the BBC.

Single market relationship

May says Britain will leave the EU’s single market after Brexit, and Corbyn accepts that.

But he cautioned that new free trade deals with China or the United States would not compensate for loss of trade with the European bloc.

He called for a “new and strong relationship” with the single market, which “includes full tariff-free access” and minimum rights, standards and protections.

Labour would also seek exemptions from EU rules on state aid and public procurement, he said.

However, pro-European Labour MPs urged him to go further and commit to staying in the single market, warning that he should not “pretend” that he could get the same benefits outside it. – Rappler.com