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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Pro-European Tories play down prospect of voting with Corbyn to defeat government on custom union - Politics live

Afternoon summary

  • Two of the eight pro-European Tories who have signed a key amendment saying the UK should stay in a customs union have played down the prospect of joining with Labour and voting for it. Their comments suggest talk of the government being defeated on this issue may have been overstated. (See 4.06pm.)

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn giving an interview to ITV’s Robert Peston at the National Transport Design Centre in Coventry, where Corbyn gave his speech. Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s strategy and communications chief, listens in, consulting his notes on the floor.
Jeremy Corbyn giving an interview to ITV’s Robert Peston at the National Transport Design Centre in Coventry, where Corbyn gave his speech. Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s strategy and communications chief, listens in, consulting his notes on the floor. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

Lidington's post-Brexit devolution offer yet to satisfy Scottish and Welsh governments

David Lidington’s speech has not gone down well with the Scottish and Welsh government.

The BBC’s Nick Eardley has tweeted this response from Michael Russell, the Scottish government’s Brexit minister.

Russell also tweeted this.

And this is from the Welsh first minister, Labour’s Carwyn Jones.

I welcome the commitment of the UK government to continue to work with us on their EU withdrawal bill. However, as currently drafted, the bill allows the UK government to take control of devolved policy areas, such as farming and fishing, once the UK has left the EU. This is an unacceptable attack on devolution in both Wales and Scotland.

We now need further progress that goes beyond warm words and I hope the ‘very big changes’ promised in the speech equate to sensible amendments to the bill which respect devolution. We will continue to work with the UK and Scottish governments to that end.

Updated

Tories 'too slow' to accept the case for devolution, says Lidington

In his speech Lidington also said the Tories were “too slow” to accept the case for devolution. He said:

As Edmund Burke put it more than 200 years ago: “To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link by which we proceed to love of our country and of mankind.”

I suspect that most of us here derive our sense of who we are from many different sources – from our family, from where we live, perhaps from a sports club, choral society or community group that we support, in many cases from our religious faith, and of course from our nation.

And in the United Kingdom we know that there is no contradiction between being an ardent Welsh or Scottish patriot and being a committed supporter of the Union. If I needed any reminder of that truth, it was when the secretary of state for Scotland was gloating to me about the rugby result on Saturday.

Looking back to the last century, I think - being honest - that my party was too slow to recognise that the increasing calls for devolution and decentralisation represented a genuine shift in public mood.

A substantial chunk of David Lidington’s speech about Brexit and devolution was briefed to reporters overnight and the key news lines are set out in our story here.

In the full speech Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, explained in more detail why the UK government thinks it is so important for London to retain some control over devolved policy matters that before Brexit were decided in Brussels.

Some powers are clearly related to the UK as a whole and will need to continue to apply in the same way across all four nations in order to protect consumers and businesses who buy and sell across the UK, in all parts of what we might call the United Kingdom’s common market. That market is one of the fundamental expressions of the constitutional integrity that underpins our existence as a union.

The Government will protect that vital common market of the UK. And by retaining UK frameworks where necessary we will retain our ability not only to act in the national interest when we need to, but to do so with a unity of purpose that places the prosperity and security of all of our citizens, no matter where they’re from or where they were born, to the fore.

For example, at present EU law means that our farmers and other food producers only need to comply with one set of package labelling and hygiene rules.

Four different sets of rules in different parts of the UK would only make it more difficult and more expensive for a cheesemaker in Monmouthshire to sell to customers in Bristol or for a cattle farmer in Aberdeenshire to sell their beef in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

(It was very odd for a minister in a government committed to Brexit to be giving a speech in favour of the common market, but that’s another matter.)

Lidington also said a bit more about the proposed changes to the EU withdrawal bill which would insert a presumption in favour of repatriated powers relating to devolution being transferred to the devolved administrations. He said:

So our proposal is to amend the bill before parliament to make clear that while frameworks are being agreed, the presumption would now be that powers returning from the EU should sit at a devolved level.

Westminster would only be involved where, to protect the UK common market or to meet our international obligations, we needed a pause – I stress pause - to give the governments time to design and put in place a UK-wide framework.

As I have said before, we expect to be able to secure agreement with the devolved governments about what frameworks should - or should not - apply to each power.

And where powers do need to be returned to a UK-wide framework, we will maintain the ability for the UK parliament to legislate to do so.

Just as the current provisions within the EU withdrawal bill on releasing powers to devolved governments are intended to be by consensus and agreement with the devolved governments themselves, so we should expect this new, inverted power to operate in the same way - by consensus and by agreement.

David Lidington.
David Lidington. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Updated

Here is some more comment on the Corbyn speech.

From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush

A thread from Politico Europe’s Tom McTague starting here

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From the Institute for Government’s Jill Rutter

From the Fabian Society’s Andrew Harrop

From MLex’s Matthew Holehouse

Here’s a good spot from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

Here is the text of David Lidington’s Brexit speech in north Wales.

Updated

For more information about how many times Mini parts cross the channel while the car is being made, this article is invaluable.

Sir John Major, the Conservative former prime minister, will be giving a speech on Brexit on Wednesday, it has been announced. He will be speaking at an event organised by the Creative Industries Federation.

Major’s premiership was crippled by Eurosceptic guerrilla warfare, and during the EU referendum campaign he described the Brexiters as the “gravediggers of our prosperity”. It will be interesting to see whether his views have mellowed ...

Pro-European Tories play down prospect of voting with Corbyn to defeat government on custom union

Jeremy Corbyn’s speech is significant because is raises the possibility of Labour and the other opposition parties lining up with Tory rebels to defeat the government. At the end of last week the Conservative pro-European Anna Soubry tabled a new version of her amendment to the trade bill, new clause 5 (NC5), designed to maximise support for this cause. Eight Tory MPs have signed it. Given that the Tory/DUP working majority is generally put at 13, that is enough to engineer a defeat.

But Corbyn may have moved too soon. The government has signalled it will postpone the vote until after Easter, and this afternoon two of the Tories who signed the Soubry amendment played down suggestions they will actually vote for it.

Stephen Hammond said it was too soon to say what he would do. On the Daily Politics, asked if he was willing to vote with Labour on this issue, he replied:

This is a process. We are a long way from that yet.

He also described Corbyn’s speech as “vacuous”, and went on:

If Jeremy Corbyn is the answer, the only question is how do you support UK jobs, and I won’t be doing anything to support that.

And a few hours later Jonathan Djanogly told BBC News that the customs union amendments (although NC5 is seen as the main one, there are others) were not necessarily intended to be put to a vote. He said:

The reason why those were tabled was not necessarily to have have a vote, although it may come to that ...

The reason why you’ve got me here is because I signed an amendment saying that we should have a customs union. And I signed other amendments. That means that we have a debate on the issue ... Of course, we don’t know what government policy is at the moment, but I hope that they will want to have a comprehensive customs agreement, if not customs union.

And when pressed about whether he would vote with Labour, he replied:

I have not said that a customs union of whatever sort is necessarily going to be something that I support.

He also claimed that Corbyn’s announcement could mean many things.

Jonathan Djanogly.
Jonathan Djanogly. Photograph: BBC

8 things we've learnt from Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit speech

Jeremy Corbyn has not given a speech on Brexit for about a year and in the Commons he often avoids the subject, giving rise to the suspicion that his own Euroscepticsm makes this an awkward topic for him as Labour leader. But today’s speech was well-crafted and substantial, and could potentially have a decisive impact on UK Brexit policy (for reasons set out by, among others, Andrew Rawnsley here and Matthew d’Ancona here.) Here is my colleague Anushka Asthana’s first news story.

And here, for an alternative take, is a list of eight things we’ve learnt from the speech and from Corbyn’s Q&A.

1 - Corbyn has finally quashed the perception (partly, but not entirely, fair) that the Labour and Conservative approaches to Brexit are largely indistinguishable by committing his party to staying in a customs union with the EU. The key quote is at 11.09am and the parliamentary implications are considerable.

2 - But Corbyn has also made it clear that customs union membership would be conditional on the UK retaining “a say” in EU trade deals. He set this out clearly in the speech. (See 11.11am.) And he elaborated in the Q&A, when he told journalists:

What we want to achieve is our right to be able to negotiate and consult at the same time with the European Union on the sort of trade agreements we make. And also to influence them on the sort of trade deals that are made with the rest of the world ...

Does that mean we have to be passive takers? No. We are a large economy, we are an important part of the world trade system and we will obviously negotiate to achieve that.

As the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg points out, the Labour plans get a bit hazy at this point as to what would happen if the EU were to say no.

For this reason the Brexiter Labour MP Frank Field thinks the customs union plan is a non-starter. (See 12.39am.) But other experts think the EU could agree to give the UK some sort of say (see 10.38am) and it is probably easier to imagine the EU complying with what Corbyn wants than complying with what the government is demanding.

3 - Corbyn genuinely seems to think that being in the single market would stop Labour implementing some of its radical policies. Labour MPs on the centre or right of the party who say the UK has to leave the single market tend to argue for this on the basis that staying in would mean accepting free movement. By contrast, Corbyn struck a relatively liberal note on immigration (see 11.17am) and instead argued in the speech that wholesale membership of the single market could obstruct Labour policies. (See 11.15am.) He went further in the Q&A, referring to EU rules covering state aid and competition.

The nationalisation of RBS, in order to accommodate European rules, was accompanied by the selling off of some of the best parts of RBS and the public was left with the remainder. Royal Mail is a national monopoly, rail delivery is a natural monopoly. I do not agree with or accept the idea there has to be competition in mail delivery. After all, we all have one letter box, and it is much more efficient to have one postal delivery person coming down the street rather than three or four from different or competing companies. Likewise, the idea that you have competition in water supplies is a little odd when there is only one water pipe comes to each house. So the idea that competition rules work for the benefit of all, we do not believe to be the case.

Afterwards Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit, put out this statement from the Labour MP Pat McFadden contesting Corbyn’s claims. McFadden said:

Nor should we allow our position on the single market to be shaped by the view that it doesn’t allow state intervention. That is not the case. This old Lexit tune fails to recognise the widespread state ownership of industry and the high welfare economies that exist inside the single market and inside the current EU.

4 - Corbyn believes there will be a “Brexit dividend”. In his speech he said:

Labour will give the NHS the resources it needs, because we will raise tax on the top 5% and big business, those with the broadest shoulders to pay. Not by making up numbers and parading them on the side of a bus.

And we will use funds returned from Brussels after Brexit to invest in our public services and the jobs of the future, not tax cuts for the richest.

This is contentious because many experts claim there will be no Brexit dividend at all (because the loss to the Exchequer from the lower tax revenues generated as a result of Brexit-induced lower growth will not compensate for the £8bn-odd the UK saves not having to contribute to the EU budget.) “In short, Brexit is likely to mean less money for public services, including the NHS, than otherwise would have been the case,” the Institute for Fiscal Studies said recently. McFadden also criticised this aspect of the speech. He said:

However Labour needs to be honest with itself and honest with the electorate about this concept of a Brexit public spending dividend which we have heard plenty of times from Boris Johnson and the leading Brexiters.

The government’s own economic assessments leaked a couple of weeks ago show Brexit to be a drag anchor on growth even after a reduction in payments to the EU is taken into account because the economic damage of leaving outweighs any budgetary gain. If we really want to put jobs and the economy first we need to understand that.

Reminder: McFadden was sacked by Corbyn as shadow Europe minister two years ago.

6 - Minis cross the channel three times before they are finished - and Corbyn understands the importance of supply chains. Here is the key passage.

And many businesses have supply chains and production processes, interwoven throughout Europe. Take the UK car industry, which supports 169,000 manufacturing jobs, 52,000 of which are here in the West Midlands.

If we look at the example of one of Britain’s most iconic brands in this sector, the Mini, we begin to see how reliant our automotive industry is on a frictionless, interwoven supply chain.

A mini will cross the Channel three times in a 2,000-mile journey before the finished car rolls off the production line. Starting in Oxford it will be shipped to France to be fitted for key components before being brought back to BMW’s Hams Hall plant in Warwickshire where it is drilled and milled into shape.

Once this process is complete the Mini will be sent to Munich to be fitted with its engine, before ending its journey back at the mini plant in Oxford for final assembly.

If that car is to be sold on the continent then many of its components will have crossed the Channel four times.

Actually, if Corbyn’s account is correct, by my count the Mini crosses the channel four times before completion. Whatever, it is a vivid illustration of how important supply chains are, and why having to comply with customs declarations and rules of origin paperwork could be crippling for the car industry. Government ministers don’t make this point in their speeches.

7 - Corbyn does not see Brexit as one of the great threats to humanity. Surprisingly for a speech focused on the mechanics of Brexit, Corbyn included a passage towards the end about the four greatest threats to humanity. (See 11.24am.) It was slightly incongruous, but it did make the point that Corbyn is actually much more interested in human rights issues and global affairs than in what David Cameron once describe as “Euro-wank”. The passage also included this swipe at Theresa May - probably the rhetorical highlight of the speech.

Many of us have friends and family that are from or who live in other parts of the world.

In contrast to the prime minister who said, “if you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere”.

We believe in fact that we can only fully achieve what we want to as citizens of Britain by also recognising we are “citizens of the world”.

8 - Corbyn thinks the “political class” cannot ignore the wider message of the EU referendum. He made this point as he was wrapping up the Q&A. He said:

Let’s say to people, in every community, in every part of the country, a Labour government will not let your industries disappear and be replaced by nothing other than short-term, insecure, zero-hours contract-type work. We are serious, very serious, about investing in every community of the country. Surely the political class should learn a lesson from the results of the referendum, that sense of anger, anger, at left-behind communities anywhere in Britain. We will not walk by on the other side and let towns and cities die for the lack of investment. It is our duty to achieve something very different and very better.

Ironically (in the light of point 7) this is a point on which he and May agree; she said much the same in her speech to the Conservative party conference in 2016. This also helps to explain why Corbyn sounds so reluctant to have a second referendum on Brexit. (Asked about this today, he did not rule it out, but he said it was not party policy.)

Jeremy Corbyn giving his speech in Coventry.
Jeremy Corbyn giving his speech in Coventry. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Updated

Here is some union reaction to the Corbyn speech.

From the Unite general secretary Len McCluskey

Jeremy Corbyn has shown that people really do have a choice on Brexit.

On the one hand, there is Labour which has pledged to build on the trading arrangements presently supporting millions of jobs in this country. A Corbyn government will also make it a priority to tackle the greedy bosses who have abused migrant workers to undermine employment conditions and attack the rate for the job.

On the other hand, there are the Tories who are quite clearly putting their own party interests above those of the nation.

From Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB union

By committing to a customs union, Labour is showing clear leadership that would safeguard our ports, transport firms and manufacturing sectors.

From Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary

The Labour leader’s speech was a welcome step forwards. It provided some of the answers working people need on how their jobs, rights and livelihoods will be protected, and it exposed the threat to manufacturing jobs from the government’s red line on a customs union.

No 10 reaffirms its opposition to joining customs union with EU

This is what Downing Street said about Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

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.

Sturgeon says Corbyn's Brexit stance 'very similar to May's 'have cake and eat it' approach

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, says Corbyn’s Brexit policy sounds like Johnsonian cakeism.

Starmer says Labour’s policy would give EU clarity it wants about UK’s overall Brexit goals

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is being interviewed on the World at One.

He says Labour wants the UK to “have a say” in future EU trade deals, which would affect the UK if it were in the customs union.

Q: The Labour Brexiter Graham Stringer says British consumers would pay more if the UK cannot cut tariffs.

Starmer says he does not accept this.

Q: Is there any indication the EU would accept your plans, and your request for the UK to have a say in trade deals?

Starmer says this would be a matter for negotiation. But the EU has been saying it wants to know if the UK wants to stay close to it, or if it wants to drift away. Labour has now provided an answer, he says: the UK should stay close.

  • Starmer says Labour’s policy would give EU clarity it wants about UK’s overall Brexit goals.

Updated

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary (centre) and Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, listening to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary (centre) and Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, listening to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

 Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

And Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, says Corbyn should have promised voters a second referendum.

[Corbyn’s] slight movement on the customs union and some EU agencies might be one step on the road to rationality, but there is still a long way to go before the rhetoric meets reality. The Labour leader spoke of putting the British people first, but made no guarantees on making sure they are the ones who have a final say on the Brexit deal.

Open Britain says staying in customs union 'nowhere near enough'

Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit, has put out this response to the speech from the Labour MP Chris Leslie. He said:

Jeremy Corbyn’s speech is not the end of Labour’s debate on Europe.

His commitment to the customs union is welcome but it is nowhere near enough.

Staying in the single market is absolutely essential if we are to protect manufacturing jobs and investment and to avoid a hard border in Ireland.


SNP says Corbyn 'needs to go further' and back staying in single market

The SNP has described Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to back staying in a customs union with the EU as “a step in the right direction” but says the Labour leader should go much further, and back continued single market membership too. This is from Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s foreign affairs and Europe spokeman.

Jeremy Corbyn needs to go further if he is serious about protecting the UK’s economy and jobs as the UK leaves the EU ...

Since the EU referendum, the SNP has continued to call for Scotland and the UK’s continued membership of the single market and customs union in order to protect our economy, small and large businesses and livelihoods of millions of people across the UK.

The softening in stance is a step in the right direction, however, time is running out - it’s time for Labour to get on board with opposition parties in Westminster to work together to bring a halt to the UK government’s disastrous Brexit plans.

DUP accuses Corbyn of 'cheap political opportunism' over Brexit

Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, has accused Jeremy Corbyn of “cheap political opportunism”. In a statement he said:

It is clear that Jeremy Corbyn’s speech today is driven by cheap political opportunism, completely overturns previous promises made by the Labour Party during the last general election that it was opposed to membership of the customs union and is a blatant attempt to bring down the government rather than safeguard the interests of the UK or workers in industries across the United Kingdom who would benefit from the United Kingdom’s freedom to make its own trade deals outside a customs union.

Corbyn is hoping to capitalise on the opposition to leaving the EU from the few malcontents in the Conservative party. He clearly hopes that they will join with him putting personal prejudices ahead of their own party duties.

Sammy Wilson
Sammy Wilson Photograph: Paul McErlane/Paul McErlane (commissioned)

The Labour Brexiter Frank Field is not bothered by Jeremy Corbyn’s speech, because he thinks the EU would never agree to give the UK a say in negotiating trade deals - the condition Corbyn has set for agreeing to stay in the customs union. (See 11.11am.) The FT’s Jim Pickard has tweeted this.

Field has changed his tune a bit overnight. He is one of the Labour MPs who provided the Daily Mail splash (see 12.16pm) because yesterday he said staying in the customs union be “to rat on the people’s decision to leave”.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, has accused Labour of selling out over Brexit.

CBI says Corbyn's customs union policy would 'put jobs and living standards first'

The CBI has also broadly welcomed Jeremy Corbyn’s speech (although it still has considerable reservations about his overall economic agenda). This is from Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director general.

The Labour leader’s commitment to a customs union will put jobs and living standards first by remaining in a close economic relationship with the EU. It will help grow trade without accepting freedom of movement or payments to the EU.

Growing trade is not an ‘either or’ question – Germany already exports five times as much with China as the UK from within the customs union. Many thousands of ambitious UK firms are looking to break into new markets. These companies need government to focus on making access to markets simpler, not putting up barriers to our most important trading partner.

Importantly, a customs union will go part of the way to providing a real-world solution to the Irish border question that is of such urgent concern to the people and firms of Northern Ireland.

This evidence cannot be ignored. To do so would create barriers where there are none, risking prosperity and future living standards.

But businesses have their eyes wide open on Labour’s overall rhetoric on re-nationalisation. If Labour turns its back on good collaboration between the Government and the private sector - putting vital sectors solely in the hands of politicians - public services, infrastructure and taxpayers will ultimately pay the price. The CBI will continue to engage with the Labour Party to find better solutions to the shared challenges we face.

Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director general
Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director general Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

Here is the full text of the Jeremy Corbyn speech.

These are from Gerard Batten, the acting leader of Ukip.

Boris Johnson says Corbyn's plan would leave UK 'colony of the EU'

And Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has criticised the Corbyn speech too.

Fox says staying in customs union would mean 'betraying millions of Labour voters'

In a statement issued by Conservative HQ, Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, says staying in a customs union would mean “betraying millions of Labour voters”. Fox said:

This is a cynical attempt by Labour to try and frustrate the Brexit process and play politics with our country’s future – all the while, betraying millions of Labour voters.

Labour’s confused policy would be bad for jobs and wages, it would leave us unable to sign up to comprehensive free trade deals, and it doesn’t respect the result of the referendum.

This is another broken promise by Labour. Only the Conservatives are getting on with delivering what British people voted for, taking back control of our laws, borders and money.

Not for the first time, the Tories seem to have lifted their attack line from a Daily Mail headline (although the Mail story is based on comments from Labour Brexiters who have critcised the new party policy.)

Business will welcome Corbyn's announcement, says IoD

The Institute of Directors has given a qualified welcome to Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement, partially vindicating George Osborne’s claim about the speech making Labour more pro-business than the Tories. (See 11.55am.) But the IoD says it thinks its plan for a hybrid customs union is better. Stephen Martin, the IoD director general, said:

Labour has widened the debate today on the UK’s relationship with the EU post-Brexit, and many businesses, particularly manufacturers, will be pleased to hear the opposition’s proposal to keep a customs union on the table. It was important to see Jeremy Corbyn putting emphasis on the complexity of cross-border ‘just-in-time’ supply chains that could face significant new costs and barriers without one. As with everything about the Brexit process, however, extracting detailed and specific answers on the future trade arrangements from our political leaders has been a slow and laborious process.

There are no easy solutions here. A full customs union would make life simpler for goods exporters, but it is not clear whether Jeremy Corbyn is proposing that Brussels negotiate trade deals for the UK even after Brexit. It is hard to see how the EU could simply extend its trade agreements to a sizeable non-member state without a fundamental revision of its Treaties.

We advocate instead a partial customs union covering all industrial goods, in conjunction with a broader FTA [free trade agreement] for the many other areas that would be needed to ensure frictionless trade with the EU. This would minimise disruption to the UK’s manufacturing industries, but also allow the UK to set its own tariffs and negotiate them down on products ranging from cheese and chocolate to sugar and oranges. It would also give the UK control over much of its own anti-dumping regime.

Updated

Osborne says Corbyn has made Labour 'more pro-business, more pro-free trade' than Tories

George Osborne’s Evening Standard has welcomed Jeremy Corbyn’s intervention. In its leader, which Osborne, the former chancellor, has promoted on Twitter, it says Corbyn has now made Labour more pro-business than the Tories.

The Labour leader has, with the smallest of nudges, manoeuvred himself into a more pro-business, pro-free trade European policy than the Tory Government.

He has also opened up the looming prospect of the Prime Minister suffering a huge defeat in the Commons, as the number of Tory MPs who agree with remaining in a customs union grows each week.

The Evening Standard has warned consistently that this would happen since the moment the last election result became clear.

So did the Chancellor of the Exchequer, many sensible Cabinet members, business groups, Tory peers and backbench MPs.

But the warnings were ignored and the Conservative leadership instead chose to appease the hardcore Brexiteers, obsessed with the ideological purity of their experiment and — in some cases — openly willing to lose an election, if that’s the price of pursuing it.

Rebecca Long-Bailey takes a question from a non-journalist. It is an easy one. “Please will you hurry up and be our prime minister?” Corbyn does not reply, but John Humphrys’ job is safe.

This has not gone down well with the hacks.

Back to questions from journalists.

Q: Are you hoping Labour MPs will join with Tory rebels to defeat the government?

Corbyn says Labour will put its view to parliament. It is fighting to win the next election, he says.

He says there is no future in turning this county into “some sort of xenophobic offshore island”.

He says Labour is serious about investing in every community in the country.

Surely the political class should learn a lesson from the referendum, he says.

  • Corbyn says politicians should learn a lesson from the EU referendum, and not ignore the concerns of poor communities.

Q: Will Labour fund adequate policing on the streets.

Corbyn says Labour is committed to increasing police numbers by 10,000.

And that’s it. The Q&A is over.

I will be posting reaction, a summary and analysis shortly.

Q: What do you say to people in Coventry worried about the impact of Brexit on jobs in the region?

Corbyn says this area relies heavily on trade with Europe. He wants to protect those jobs, he says. He says his plans should be good news for people in Coventry.

Q: The EU says the UK can only guarantee no hard border in Ireland by staying in the single market. Do you accept this? And would you be willing to accept this?

Corbyn says the Good Friday agreement was an enormous step forward. That historic movement came about because very brave people were prepared to talk. No one wants to lose that. So there has to be a customs union.

Q: A group called Our Future, Our Choice is trying to persuade you to back a second referendum. Could they change your mind?

Corbyn says Labour is demanding a meaningful vote in parliament on the final deal. There is a lot of negotiating to be done. Labour is not proposing a second referendum, he says.

Corbyn's Q&A

Q: If you go into a customs union, you might just get a ‘right to be heard’ when the EU negotiates trade deals, not a veto. Could you live with that?

Corbyn says he has set out what he wants to achieve. He wants the UK to be consulted. Trade deals currently have human rights clauses in them. But they are seldom enforced. He says he would like to see things like this strengthened.

The UK would not have to be a rule taker. It is a big economy. Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, has set this out, he says.

Q: A QC has pointed out today that some EU countries spend more on state aid than the UK does. And the Scandinavian countries spend more than the UK on public services. What Labour policies would single market rules stop you implementing?

Corbyn says competition rules and state aid rules are an issue. For example, when the UK government nationalised RBS, it had to sell off bits.

And mail is a natural monopoly. He says he does not accept that there needs to be competition in that field. Or in water, where only one water pipe goes to each house.

And here is Corbyn’s peroration.

The European Union is not the root of all our problems and leaving it will not solve all our problems.

Likewise, the EU is not the source of all enlightenment and leaving it does not inevitably spell doom for our country.

There will be some who will tell you that Brexit is a disaster for this country and some who will tell you that Brexit will create a land of milk and honey.

The truth is more down to earth and it’s in our hands.

Brexit is what we make of it together, the priorities and choices we make in the negotiations.

This Conservative government is damaging our country and their priorities for Brexit risk increasing the damage.

But I also know, what a Labour government could do for this country and that our priorities for Brexit negotiations are the right ones, to create a country that works for the many not the few.

Thank you.

Corbyn says free market economics has not worked.

Labour is the Party of the new common sense on the economy, on public services and on Brexit.

The only party which recognises the world has changed these last ten years and know we cannot continue with widening inequality deregulation of industry and privatisation of public services.

We are in a country where Tory-run councils are collapsing because of cuts. Where homeless people are dying on the streets in the shadow of the Parliament. Where good jobs are being lost, because we have a government that will not get a grip on the casino economy.

In or out of the European Union, we have to deal with that reality, the reality of market failure and austerity.

The free market has not worked in the banking sector. It has not worked in the water industry. It has not worked in the energy utilities. It has crashed in out-sourcing and it has failed our fragmented railways. And it has led to a labour market where abuse is rife.

Corbyn says being Eurosceptic is not same as being anti-European

Corbyn says he was Eurosceptic, but not anti-European.

I have long opposed the embedding of free market orthodoxy and the democratic deficit in the European Union, and that is why I campaigned to ‘remain and reform’ in the referendum campaign.

Scepticism is healthy especially when dealing with politicians or the received wisdom of the political and media establishment, but often the term “Eurosceptic” in reality became synonymous with “anti-European”.

And I am not anti-European at all, I want to see close and progressive cooperation with the whole of Europe after Brexit.

Corbyn rejects May’s attack on 'citizens of the world'

Corbyn rejects Theresa May’s attack on citizens of the world.

We live in a globalised world, the lives we lead are dependent on the work of others and our trade with those from around the world.

Many of us have friends and family that are from or who live in other parts of the world.

In contrast to the prime minister who said, “if you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere”.

We believe in fact that we can only fully achieve what we want to as citizens of Britain by also recognising we are “citizens of the world”.

Corbyn identifies further threats to humanity.

Third, the unprecedented numbers of people fleeing conflict, persecution, human rights abuses, social breakdown and climate disasters.

The global refugee crisis and there are 65 million refugees across the world that crisis is a challenge, much of which is on the borders of Europe and that challenge can be met by co-ordinating with our European neighbours, both to crack down on the people smugglers who put men, women and children to sea in unseaworthy vessels.

And as Operation Sophia tried to rescue those from the seas around Europe as too many desperate people are drowning in pursuit of sanctuary. These are people who are simply seeking refuge from cruelty and suffering they want to make a contribution and, but for accident of birth, it could be any of us ...

And finally, I want to briefly address the use of unilateral military action and intervention rather than diplomacy and negotiation to resolve disputes and change governments.

Let us learn the lessons of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan and be clear that we will not take our country down the road of regime change wars again.

The real answer is genuine international cooperation, which confronts the root causes of conflict, persecution and inequality, and we will continue to play a role in partnership with the EU in that effort.

Corbyn says UK must work with other countries to tackle greatest threats to humanity

Corbyn is now talking about how the UK should be working with other countries to tackle the four greatest threats to humanity. (They don’t include Brexit.)

We must work with other countries to advance the cause of human rights to confront the four greatest and interconnected threats facing our common humanity:

First, the growing concentration of unaccountable wealth and power in the hands of a tiny corporate elite.

We must challenge that working with our European neighbours to stop those who would play one country off against another or those who hide their wealth offshore to avoid paying their dues.

Second, climate change which is creating instability and fuelling conflict across the world and threatening all our futures.

No matter how much we enforce them pollution stubbornly refuses to respect our borders.

We can only tackle climate change, pollution and environmental degradation by working together and many of our closest allies in that struggle are in Europe.

Corbyn insists on Labour’s internationalism.

The constitution of the Labour Party includes a commitment to support the United Nations.

A promise “to secure peace, freedom, democracy, economic security and environmental protection for all” Some want to use Brexit to turn Britain in on itself, seeing everyone as a feared competitor.

Others want to use Brexit to put rocket boosters under our current economic system’s insecurities and inequalities, turning Britain into a deregulated corporate tax haven with low wages, limited rights, and cut-price public services in what would be a destructive race to the bottom.

Labour stands for a completely different future drawing on the best internationalist traditions of the labour movement and our country.

Corbyn turns back to Northern Ireland.

The devolution of the last Labour government completed the peace process in Northern Ireland, which we must cherish. The Good Friday agreement was a great achievement and I pay tribute to the work done by Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam and all sides in Northern Ireland to secure that agreement.

We must continue to support the restoration of the Northern Ireland assembly and to ensure we maintain the situation of no hard border in Northern Ireland.

And from there he moves on to devolution.

The previous Labour government also brought powers closer to home in Scotland and Wales establishing the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly.

And so, Labour believes that powers over devolved policy areas currently exercised by the EU should go directly to the relevant devolved body after Brexit, so that power is closer to the people.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour would address skills shortages.

At the general election, Labour set out plans to invest in a National Education Service with free college and university training to tackle those shortages.

People do feel frustrated when they are denied opportunities to re-train or improve their skills and employers instead import skilled labour from abroad.

We will also restore free ESOL courses so that people who come here whether as migrants or refugees can learn English and fully participate in their communities and workplaces.

We also set out how we would tighten labour market regulations and strengthen trade union rights to tackle the insecurity and exploitation of all workers.

Corbyn proposes 'reasonable management of migration'

Corbyn turns to immigration.

It was alarming that after the Brexit vote there was a clear rise in xenophobic and racist attacks on our streets.

The referendum campaign was divisive and some politicians on the Leave side whipped up fears and division in order to further their cause that built on the shameful vans telling immigrants to ‘Go Home’ that the then Home Secretary instructed to trundle round the country stirring up division.

I remember just after the referendum result receiving a text from a young person in my constituency who had been subjected to abuse in the street for the first time and who was afraid.

Our immigration system will change and freedom of movement will as a statement of fact end when we leave the European Union.

But we have also said that in trade negotiations our priorities are growth, jobs and people’s living standards. We make no apologies for putting those aims before bogus immigration targets.

Labour would design our immigration policy around the needs of the economy based on fair rules and the reasonable management of migration.

We would not do what this government is doing, start from rigid red lines on immigration and then work out what that means for the economy afterwards.

As Diane Abbott, our shadow home secretary, set out last week, “We do not begin with, ‘how do we reduce immigration?’, and to hell with the consequences. Those are Tory policies and Tory values”.

Corbyn says Labour would negotiate 'protections, clarifications or exemptions' for being in single market

But Corbyn goes on to stress the conditions that would apply.

In our transport networks, our energy markets and our digital infrastructure, too often Britain lags behind.

So we would also seek to negotiate protections, clarifications or exemptions where necessary in relation to privatisation and public service competition directives state aid and procurement rules and the posted workers directive.

We cannot be held back inside or outside the EU from taking the steps we need to support cutting edge industries and local business, stop the tide of privatisation and outsourcing or from preventing employers being able to import cheap agency labour to undercut existing pay and conditions.

Corbyn says Labour wants 'new and strong relationship with single market'

Corbyn turns to the single market.

And Labour would negotiate a new and strong relationship with the single market that includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections.

That new relationship would need to ensure we can deliver our ambitious economic programme, take the essential steps to intervene, upgrade and transform our economy and build an economy for the 21st century that works for the many, not the few.

Corbyn says Labour would maintain existing standards after Brexit.

Labour respects the result of the referendum and Britain is leaving the EU. But we will not support any Tory deal that would do lasting damage to jobs, rights and living standards.

Some seem very keen on downgrading our trading links with Europe. But we do not believe that deals with the US or China, would be likely to compensate for a significant loss of trade with our trading neighbours in the EU, and the government’s own leaked assessments show that.

Both the US and China have weaker standards and regulations that would risk dragging Britain into a race to the bottom on vital protections and rights at work.

And Labour is implacably opposed to our NHS or other public services being part of any trade deal with Trump’s America or a revived TTIP-style deal with the EU, which would open the door to a flood of further privatisations.

And we are not prepared to ask the British public to eat chlorinated chicken and lower the standards of British farming.

We would ensure there will be no reduction in rights, standards or protections and instead seek to extend them.

Corbyn says Labour would only stay in customs union if it had say in EU trade deals

But Corbyn sets conditions.

But we are also clear that the option of a new UK customs union with the EU would need to ensure the UK has a say in future trade deals.

A new customs arrangement would depend on Britain being able to negotiate agreement of new trade deals in our national interest.

Labour would not countenance a deal that left Britain as a passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others. That would mean ending up as mere rule takers.

In contrast the Conservative government has moved from saying it wanted trade with the EU after Brexit to be “tariff-free” to saying it wants trade to be “as tariff-free as possible”.

In which sectors of the economy and industry does the government think it would be acceptable for there to be tariffs? Like with so much else, they haven’t spelled that out.

But that is the consequence of ruling out the option of a customs union, which this government has done.

So I appeal to MPs of all parties, prepared to put the people’s interests before ideological fantasies, to join us in supporting the option of a new UK customs union with the EU, that would give us a say in future trade deals.

Corbyn confirms Labour would seek a customs unions with EU

Corbyn confirms Labour would seek a customs unions with the EU.

Labour would seek a final deal that gives full access to European markets and maintains the benefits of the single market and the customs union as the Brexit Secretary, David Davis promised in the House of Commons, with no new impediments to trade and no reduction in rights, standards and protections.

We have long argued that a customs union is a viable option for the final deal. So Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.

Corbyn says the government is in disarray over the transition.

Labour spelled out the need for a stable transition period last summer. Both the TUC and CBI agree. We thought the government had accepted that case but they now seem to be in disarray on the issue again.

Time after time with this government, anything agreed at breakfast is being briefed against by lunch and abandoned by teatime.

Disarray is, it seems, the new ‘strong and stable’.

Corbyn is now talking about the single market.

We are leaving the European Union but we will still be working with European partners in the economic interests of this country.

When 44% of our exports are to EU countries and 50% of our imports come from the EU, then it is in both our interests for that trade to remain tariff-free.

It would damage businesses that export to Europe and the jobs that depend on those exports for there to be the additional costs of tariffs and it would damage consumers here, already failed by stagnant wages and rising housing costs.

So we will remain close to the European Union, that’s obvious.

Every country, whether it’s Turkey, Switzerland, or Norway that is geographically close to the EU, without being an EU member state has some sort of close relationship to the EU. Some more advantageous than others.

And Britain will need a bespoke, negotiated relationship of its own.

Corbyn says UK should remain in some EU agencies

Corbyn says the UK should remain in some EU agencies.

It makes no sense for the UK to abandon EU agencies and tariff-free trading rules that have served us well, supporting our industrial sectors, protecting workers and consumers and safeguarding the environment.

If that means negotiating to support individual EU agencies, rather than paying more to duplicate those agencies here then that should be an option, not something ruled out because of phoney jingoistic posturing.

So we will want to remain a part of agencies like Euratom, regulating nuclear materials in energy and health sectors and programmes like Erasmus that give students opportunities to study across Europe, because they serve our interests.

Corbyn pays tribute to his colleagues.

I want to pay tribute to Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey, Barry Gardiner and Emily Thornberry, who are grappling with these issues.

They are a serious and united team. Now you know I don’t do personal but let me simply say this: that is in some contrast to their opposite numbers.

Corbyn stresses importance of supply chains for manufacturing

Corbyn is now plunging into some granular Brexit detail.

For 45 years our economy has become increasingly linked into the European Union. Many of our laws and regulations are set and monitored by joint European authorities, from implementing rules on use of pesticides to assessing the levels of fluoride in our drinking water.

The European Food Safety Authority plays a vital role in monitoring the substances used in manufacturing or growing our food using the latest scientific evidence to assess whether substances are likely to have harmful effects on human or animal health. While the European Chemicals Agency carries out the vital task of evaluating and authorising chemicals as safe for use.

And many businesses have supply chains and production processes, interwoven throughout Europe. Take the UK car industry, which supports 169,000 manufacturing jobs, 52,000 of which are here in the West Midlands.

If we look at the example of one of Britain’s most iconic brands in this sector, the Mini, we begin to see how reliant our automotive industry is on a frictionless, interwoven supply chain.

A mini will cross the Channel three times in a 2,000-mile journey before the finished car rolls off the production line. Starting in Oxford it will be shipped to France to be fitted for key components before being brought back to BMW’s Hams Hall plant in Warwickshire where it is drilled and milled into shape.

Once this process is complete the mini will be sent to Munich to be fitted with its engine, before ending its journey back at the mini plant in Oxford for final assembly.

If that car is to be sold on the continent then many of its components will have crossed the Channel four times.

The sheer complexity of these issues demand that we are practical and serious about this next stage.

Corbyn turns back to the Tories.

The government seems much more concerned about cutting deals with each other and for their friends and funders in the City.

Corbyn says many of the areas that voted for Brexit are places that have lost out.

So many of the areas that voted to Leave are the same areas that have lost out from years of chronic under-investment.

Areas where too many people are held back by a lack of opportunities, where people feel the system is rigged against them because they can’t get a decent secure job, can’t afford to buy a home, can’t get more hours or higher pay, can’t afford to retire or aren’t able to escape the spiral of debt.

He says Labour wants a Brexit for all communities.

That is why Labour wants a Brexit for all our people. One that offers security to workers in the car industry worried about their future, hope to families struggling to pay the bills each month and opportunity to young people wanting a decent job and a home of their own.

And Corbyn says the third principle underling Labour’s approach is internationalism.

The third is our global perspective. We are leaving the European Union but we are not leaving Europe. We are not throwing up protectionist barriers, closing the borders and barricading ourselves in. And we want a close and cooperative relationship with the whole of Europe after Brexit.

We are internationalists. We know that our interests are bound up with millions of others across the world, whether that’s in order to tackle the huge challenge of climate change, build a more peaceful world or clamp down on the tax dodging elite, who think by bestriding the globe they can avoid paying their share for vital public services.

Corbyn adds a line about Ireland.

No one should be willing to sacrifice the Good Friday Agreement, the basis for 20 years of relative peace, development and respect for diversity in Northern Ireland.

Here is my colleague Gaby Hinsliff on the speech so far.

Corbyn says today he will give more details about Labour’s approach to Brexit.

Here are the principles, he says.

The first is our overriding mission: that whatever is negotiated must put people’s jobs and living standards first. The Brexit process must not leave our people and country worse off.

We are committed to building a more prosperous and a more equal Britain, in which every region benefits and no community is left behind, as we set out in our manifesto. And that is what underpins our approach to Brexit.

The second is unity. Most people in our country, regardless of whether they voted leave of remain want better jobs, more investment, stronger rights and greater equality.

So we will not let those who want to sow divisions drive this process. No scapegoating of migrants, no setting one generation against another and no playing off the nations of the UK.

This gets a round of applause - the first so far.

Corbyn says more people are living in poverty than ever. The government’s attempts to get rid of the deficit keep being put down. After years of bluster, the Tories have been found out. They have no economic plan, he says.

He says the Tories have spent the last eight years not giving money to the NHS, even though they have cut taxes for the rich and for corporations.

Yet the NHS has been subjected to the longest financial squeeze in its history.

He says Labour will give the NHS the money it needs, by raising taxes for the top 5%. It will not just promise money on the side of a bus.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour also pushed for a transition period on existing terms.

And it has opposed the return of a hard border in Ireland. And it has pushed for parliament to have a meaningful vote.

Corbyn says Labour’s message has been consistent; it respects the results of the referendum, and wants to get the best deal for jobs and living standards.

It has pushed the government to act, he says. (See 9.27am.)

Corbyn says next month the most critical phase of the Brexit talks will start.

But the county is still in the dark about what this divided government wants from Brexit.

The government has soundbites, he says. Boris Johnson says it will be a liberal Brexit. Theresa May says it will be a red, white and blue one. On other days she says there will be a bespoke deal, he says.

But the truth is we really don’t know much more about where they are heading in these talks.

Jeremy Corbyn is starting his speech now. He begins by offering condolences to those killed in the fire in Leicester.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, is introducing Jeremy Corbyn now.

Jeremy Corbyn's speech

Jeremy Corbyn is due to start his speech any moment now.

Yesterday Allie Renison, head of Europe and trade policy at the Insitute of Directors, said he thought that Keir Starmer was mistaken if he thought Brussels would negotiate trade deals on the UK’s behalf if it was in a customs union. (See 10.30am.)

But Peter Foster, the Telegraph’s Europe editor, thinks the EU would be more flexible.

David Davis says UK would not be able to strike its own trade deals under Labour's plans

Although David Davis’s Telegraph article (paywall) ends with the hypocritical-sounding “snake oil” jibe (see 9.21am), most of it focused on two more substantial complaints about the proposed Labour policy.

Davis says staying in the customs union would mean the UK losing control of its trade policy.

By forcing the UK to maintain a single external tariff and common commercial policy, both of which are set in Brussels, a customs union would prevent us from signing economy-boosting, job-creating free trade deals with other countries around the world.

This is one of the central prizes of Brexit. It represents an opportunity to use our agility and commercial strength to create jobs and wealth here in Britain. The only way we can do this is if we have control over our own trade policy and are able to tailor agreements to our own needs, not those of 28 different countries. Being inside a customs union would make this impossible.

These were points not lost on Labour at the last election when they promised to “work with global trading partners to develop “best-in-class” free trade and investment agreements”. They are now certain to throw this opportunity away in favour of a system for which the only existing precedent is Turkey. This would see the EU offering access to the UK market in their third country negotiations, without any reciprocal access for the UK.

And he says the Labour plan would stop the government being able to use tariffs to protect its own industries.

Membership of a customs union, with a common commercial policy, gives the EU the exclusive right to put in place remedies to tackle anti-competitive practices. This means that inside a customs union the UK would not be able to take action on the trade challenges we face, whether it’s the dumping of steel on the UK market, or any other heavily subsidised good.

In his interview with Andrew Marr yesterday (pdf), Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, partially addressed this point by saying that Labour would seek to negotiate a new arrangement with the EU that would allow the UK to have some kind of say in EU trade policy.

David Davis at a meeting in Portugal last week.
David Davis at a meeting in Portugal last week. Photograph: Horacio Villalobos - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Updated

In his Financial Times column (paywall) Wolfgang Münchau says staying in a customs union with the EU would be a decent outcome for the UK. Here’s an extract.

The EU will demand a degree of political convergence as a price for a customs union. It would, I presume, not require the UK to accept freedom of movement. This alone may make the customs union attractive from the UK’s perspective. But it would be a mistake to think of a customs union agreement as non-intrusive.

The EU could, for example, insist on a relatively open immigration regime in the UK, something that might resemble free movement in practice. There is no economic reason to link the free movement of traded goods and of people. But politics could intrude. A customs union would have to be ratified by all 27 member states, including states that have little to gain from the smooth flow of goods, but a lot to lose from UK immigration controls. The EU as a whole would object to any immigration regime that directly or indirectly discriminates against some member states.

Personally, I am struggling to understand why one would want a customs union when one can have the Norway-option. The EEA would have allowed for much wider market access, albeit at the cost of accepting freedom of movement. As net immigration from the EU is falling rapidly, the whole freedom of movement issue will lose its importance. Be that as it may, a customs union agreement would still constitute a decent second-best option because it would minimise disruption in trade flows, and solve the Northern Ireland problem.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, says Münchau is right.

And this is how political parties and campaign groups responded to the Corbyn extracts released overnight.

From Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, responding officially on behal of the Conservatives

Ever since the referendum, Labour have flitted between offering false reassurances and trying to frustrate Brexit – rather than getting on and making it work.

Just last week the shadow chancellor said Labour are open to a second referendum.

Only the Conservatives will get the best Brexit deal for the whole country, properly delivering on the referendum vote to get control of our money, borders and laws, while building a strong new relationship with Europe.

From Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, on behalf of his party

The Conservatives are making a mess of Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn now needs to show some strength and change course. ‘A jobs-first approach to Brexit’ is a dangerous, meaningless and totally undeliverable soundbite with Britain out of the single market. The damage leaving the single market and customs union will do to our economy poses a real risk to the NHS and public services. Corbyn needs to listen to those in his party who are calling for him to change direction.

If Jeremy Corbyn carries on down this path of ‘having your cake and eating it’, it would be another betrayal to those who believe that strong public services have to be underpinned by a strong economy, and Britain staying in the single market and customs union is crucial to that.

From the Labour MP Chuka Umunna, in a statement issued by Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit

It is very welcome indeed that Labour is now fully committed to participating in the customs union on the same terms as we do now, putting clear red water between Labour and the Conservatives on that issue.

But the only way to retain the benefits of the single market and customs union, and to avoid a hard Irish border, is to continue to be part of both as the TUC has made clear. It is the best anti-austerity policy too because it avoids a huge negative impact on revenues to the Exchequer if we Brexit.

From the Labour peer Lord Adonis, in a statement issued by Best for Britain, which is opposed to Brexit and campaigning for a second referendum

I’ve always believed that - in the end - Jeremy Corbyn would do the right thing and offer the British people a final say on Theresa May’s Brexit treaty.

Today’s speech moves the Labour party a further step in the direction of a referendum to stop Brexit.

The Labour Party has shown today that it is no longer prepared to give Theresa May a free hand to destroy Britain’s strategic and economic relationships to appease her party’s Brexit hard-liners. But time is running out and this is not a time for pussy-footing around.

Labour needs to commit, urgently, to a final say on the Brexit deal. That is the only way that we can protect Britain from a disastrous Brexit.

Advance extracts from Corbyn's Brexit speech

Labour released some extracts from Jeremy Corbyn’s speech overnight. Here they are in full.

On Brexit not being as bad or as good as some people claim

The European Union is not the root of all our problems and leaving it will not solve all our problems. Likewise, the EU is not the source of all enlightenment and leaving it does not inevitably spell doom for our country.

There will be some who will tell you that Brexit is a disaster for this country and some who will tell you that Brexit will create a land of milk and honey. The truth is more down to earth and it’s in our hands: Brexit is what we make of it together.

On how Labour has influenced government policy on Brexit

Our message has been consistent since the vote to leave 20 months ago. We respect the result of the referendum. Our priority is to get the best deal for people’s jobs, living standards and the economy. We reject any race to the bottom in workers’ rights, environmental safeguards, consumer protections, or food safety standards.

And we’ve pushed the Government to act to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living here and of UK citizens who have made their homes elsewhere in Europe; to ensure a transition period on the existing terms to minimise disruption and avoid an economic cliff edge; to avoid any return to a hard border in Northern Ireland; and to guarantee Parliament a meaningful vote on the final deal.

On Labour’s stance on the single market

Every country that is geographically close to the EU without being an EU member state, whether it’s Turkey, Switzerland, or Norway, has some sort of close relationship to the EU, some more advantageous than others.

Britain will need a bespoke relationship of its own. Labour would negotiate a new and strong relationship with the single market that includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections.

That new relationship would need to ensure we can deliver our ambitious economic programme, take the essential steps to upgrade and transform our economy, and build an economy for the 21st century that works for the many, not the few.

So we would also seek to negotiate protections, clarifications or exemptions, where necessary, in relation to privatisation and public service competition directives, state aid and procurement rules and the posted workers directive.

We cannot be held back, inside or outside the EU, from taking the steps we need to support cutting edge industries and local business, stop the tide of privatisation and outsourcing or prevent employers being able to import cheap agency labour from abroad to undercut existing pay and conditions.

Tories lash out at Corbyn as he backs staying in customs union with EU

If you were looking for an example how political satire how become impossible, you could do a lot worse than look at today’s Daily Telegraph splash. David Davis, whose own Brexit proposals have been widely criticised by EU leaders for being wholly unrealistic, is accusing Labour of peddling “snake oil” on the subject. In a comment article for the paper (paywall) the Brexit secretary writes:

Labour may think they have stumbled across a simple solution to Brexit, but there is a lesson they are yet to learn: if it looks like snake oil, and it smells like snake oil, don’t expect it to make you feel better.

Actually, Davis is generally more grounded than some of his Tory Brexiter colleagues and to a certain extent both main parties are vulnerable to the charge of Anglo-Saxon cakeism on Brexit. At PMQs last week, when Jeremy Corbyn asked Theresa May to explain what her desired Brexit outcome was, she batted aside the question with the short reply: “A bespoke economic partnership.” In his speech today, setting out what Labour wants from Brexit, Corbyn will say the UK needs “a bespoke relationship of its own”.

But any lingering similarities between the two parties should not distract from the all-important differences, which have existed since the referendum and which Corbyn will today firm up in a speech committing Labour to keeping the UK in some form of customs union with the EU. It is an important moment because, as Matthew d’Ancona explains in his Guardian column today, Corbyn has now identified the faultline that has the best chance of dislodging eight-plus Tories from their party, the number needed to enable Labour to defeat May. As Matthew says, Corbyn’s “conversion is not to soft Brexit, but to a hard knock on the door of No 10.”

Here is our overnight story.

I will be covering the speech in full, as well as bringing you reaction and analysis.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Jeremy Corbyn gives his Brexit speech in Coventry.

1pm: David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, gives a Brexit speech in North Wales. He will promise “a very big change” to a key Brexit bill in the hope of resolving the deadlock between London and the devolved administrations over what happens to powers being repatriated from Brussels.

2.30pm: Amber Rudd, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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