Jeremy Corbyn has compared the government’s Brexit strategy to the chaos on Northern trains as he again used prime minister’s questions to pressure Theresa May on what the Labour leader said was ministerial deadlock on the issue.
In a tightly focused approach, the Labour leader asked May a series of specific policy questions about Brexit, which she pointedly refused to answer, bringing jeers from the opposition benches.
In response, May repeatedly sought to bring the subject back to Labour’s own divisions on Brexit, prompting Corbyn to remark at one point: “The last time I looked at the order paper it said prime minister’s question time.”
Corbyn began by noting that last month the Brexit secretary, David Davis, had promised a “detailed, ambitious and precise” white paper on the government’s Brexit negotiating position, asking whether it would be published before next week’s crucial votes on the EU withdrawal bill.
After May responded by dodging the question, Corbyn asked whether the white paper would appear before the crucial EU summit later this month. He added: “Next week we will be debating the most important piece of legislation for a very long time, and we still have not seen the government’s negotiating position.”
Again, May opted to not answer the question, asking Corbyn instead to rule out any Labour support for a referendum on a final Brexit deal.
Corbyn returned to the attack, saying: “We were told three weeks ago to a great deal of fanfare that this document, this white paper, would set out the government’s ambition for the UK’s future relationship with the EU and their vision for a future role in the world. It’s nowhere to be seen, no answer is there as to when it will be published.”
He then asked for details on cabinet subcommittee deliberations on the two possible post-Brexit customs arrangements, and the reported plan for a 10-mile “buffer zone” at the Irish border, saying this idea had been called “bonkers”.
May responded: “We are looking at the two options for the customs model. Both of those will do what we have committed to do.”
After finally getting an answer from May on whether a post-Brexit transition deal would definitely end in December 2020 – “Yes,” she replied – Corbyn used his final question to castigate the government’s approach, referring to the recent chaos to train services in the north of England.
“When it comes to Brexit this government has delivered more delays and more cancellations than Northern rail,” he said, to cheers from Labour MPs. “The government’s white paper is delayed, its customs proposals have been cancelled, and it has ripped up its own timetable, just like our shambolic privatised railways.
“This government’s incompetence threatens our economy, businesses, jobs and our communities. So my question to the prime minister is this: which will last longer, the Northern rail franchise or her premiership?”
May replied by criticising Corbyn’s approach, saying: “Labour voted for a referendum, they voted to trigger article 50, and since then they have tried to frustrate the Brexit process at every stage.”
