Key points
Jeremy Corbyn started by saying he needed to correct the record. On Tuesday, he said this was the largest government defeat since the 1920s. In fact, it was the largest in our democratic history. Is Theresa May ruling out the UK staying in the customs union in her cross-party talks?
May said she wanted to leave the EU in a way that respects people’s votes. That means ending free movement, taking back control of laws and money, and having a good relationship with the EU.
Corbyn asked May to confirm that there would not be a no-deal Brexit after Greg Clark, the business secretary, said that in a call with business leaders on Tuesday. May said she did not want a no-deal Brexit. MPs could avoid no deal by voting for a deal, she said.
Corbyn said the Commons rejected May’s deal. Could she not understand she needed to come up with something else? But it was not just on Brexit she was failing. Poverty was rising. When would it fall while she was in office?
May said there were 1 million fewer people in absolute poverty, and 300,000 fewer children. Labour would spend £1,000bn more, she said.
Corbyn said May was in denial on a customs union, in denial on no deal, in denial on the amount of money spent on no-deal planning and on poverty. At this point Tory MPs jeer. Corbyn said this was significant. “Tell that to people queuing up at food banks.”
May said her government was delivering on education. She said Corbyn had consistently failed to set out what his Brexit policy was.
Corbyn said May knew his Brexit policy – he wanted a customs union with the EU.
One of the problems with the government was its disregard for statistics. There are 21,000 police officers. When May was home secretary, she would not accept police cuts had an impact on crime. Would she admit she got it wrong, the Labour leader asked?
May defended her Home Office record. Corbyn only talks about money, she said. What mattered also was what powers the police were given. She said Corbyn consistently voted against more powers for the police.
Corbyn said a Labour government would properly fund the police. Ask people whether they feel safer now. We know what the answer will be, he said. He rattleed off a list of areas where the government was failing. And it has failed on the most important issue, Brexit. Every other previous PM would have resigned after last night’s defeat.
May said Corbyn had been calling for an election for weeks. Yet on Sunday, when asked whether he would campaign to leave the EU in an election campaign, Corbyn refused to answer. He had let antisemitism run riot in his party. He would abandon the UK’s allies and wreck the economy. We would never let that happen, she said.
Snap verdict
The most interesting question at Westminster on Wednesday was the one raised by Nicola Sturgeon outside the Commons during her cross-party talks with MPs about an alternative Brexit plan: is May willing to abandon any of her rigid red lines? To his credit, Corbyn honed in on this in his very first question, and the topic was raised repeatedly by other MPs – although it was surprising how many seemed happy to stick with run-of-the-mill questions less than 24 hours after May broke all records for parliamentary humiliation.
As usual, instead of properly engaging with the red lines question, May stuck to parroting the most recent line-to-take in her memory, the text of the statement she delivered to MPs last night about wanting “constructive” talks while still honouring the result of the referendum. She would not address the question about whether she may now agree to the UK remaining in the customs union in any meaningful way. Her tone conveyed the clear impression that her lines remained almost as red as ever and that she was not seriously contemplating a departure from what she had already proposed. On one issue, however, May did hint at a rethink. Her response to Ken Clarke about extending article 50 implied that, if she was not exactly keen on an extension, she was at least less hostile to the idea than she was. (Some people assume that extending article 50 would automatically amount to a move in the direction of a softer Brexit, but that is not necessarily the case; she may want to extend it just to allow more time for no-deal preparations.)
Corbyn was probably at his best when he asked about Brexit. He quite successfully exposed the hollowness of May’s offer on cross-party talks. After that, he asked about poverty and other domestic policy issues, achieving some fairly easy hits but without saying anything especially memorable.
Memorable lines
Jeremy Corbyn:
This government has failed our country … They failed again and lost the vote last night. Isn’t it the case … with every other previous prime minister, faced with the scale of defeat last night, they would have resigned and the country would be able to choose the government they want?
Theresa May:
He has been calling for weeks for a general election in this country and yet on Sunday when he was asked … would he campaign to leave the European Union he refused to answer. Not once, not twice, not three times but five times he refused to answer. So on what he himself describes as the key issue facing the country, he has no answer.
