Key points:
Jeremy Corbyn focused his six questions on Brexit and Britain’s future customs arrangements and started by asking Theresa May if she agreed with Boris Johnson that the plan for a customs partnership was “crazy”.
May replied that the UK was leaving the customs union and the EU, but would need new customs arrangements. She said what’s crazy was a leader of the opposition who opposed TTIP (the transatlantic trade and investment partnership) but would now sign up to it with no say whatsoever.
Corbyn asked why May and her cabinet spent weeks working up a customs plans said by the EU to be unworkable. He said Greg Clark, the business secretary, said jobs would be at risk without a proper customs deal.
May retorted that Clark was talking about jobs and added that half a million were lost under Labour.
Corbyn said Sir Ivan Rogers, the former ambassador to the EU, called May’s customs plans a “fantasy island unicorn” plan. He asked May if she would stand up to what Ken Clarke calls “these wild rightwing people”?
May repeated that the UK was leaving the EU and the customs union but that Labour’s plan would have the EU negotiating on behalf of the UK, in the EU’s interest.
Corbyn accused May of presiding over a divided cabinet. He said the business group CBI backs a customs union. Ruling one out risks jobs. The government rejects a customs union. But Clark at the weekend said neither customs option would be ready by the end of the transition.
May said it was only now that the UK could have discussions with the EU about customs arrangements. She added that Corbyn had spent his entire career opposing a customs union. Now, when the British people want to come out, Corbyn wanted to come in.
Corbyn said the negotiations were a shambles. And the Commons was being denied the chance to debate Brexit. When would May debate the trade bill and the customs bill?
May said whenever Corbyn said the negotiations were going nowhere, the government got a result. She would get the best deal for the UK, she said.
Corbyn asked how the government could negotiate for a good deal when cabinet members were interested in putting their own careers first. How could the government get a good deal when it was still negotiating among itself?
May praised her own record on the economy. This is a government putting jobs first. Last week, we saw the British people voting to reject the ‘back to the future’ economic policy of Labour.
Snap verdict:
Even supporters of the Conservative government would be hard-pressed to argue that May is making a success of Brexit, and on Wednesday Corbyn hammered home the argument that she is mucking things up with admirable efficiency. May seemed particularly uncomfortable and discombobulated by the experience, and her replies were more evasive than usual. She got in an irrelevant but telling jibe about Corbyn’s stance on TTIP, and a neat and half-fair soundbite about his stance on the customs union, but overall she was very much on the defensive and shorn of authority. For Corbyn, it was a clear win – and probably his best on the topic of Brexit (which is not always an easy one for him). Two factors seemed to help. Corbyn often starts with a good, pithy question, but then gets bogged down in prolixity. On Wednesday, all his questions were relatively short and precise (or, at least, they seemed so), and they were more effective as a result. Corbyn also toned down some of the emotive, partisan rhetoric he tends to favour. Whether this was intentional or whether it was because the EU simply doesn’t stir his emotions much wasn’t clear. But the almost understated tone made his questions all the more compelling. When the facts on their own are so damning, stirring adjectives become superfluous.
Memorable lines:
Jeremy Corbyn on May’s battle with Brexiters on customs plans:
Why is the prime minister ignoring all the major business organisations, all the major trade unions in backing a customs union. Isn’t it time she stood up to those described last night by the father of the house as ‘these wild rightwing people’.
Theresa May on Corbyn’s Brexit position:
He has spent an entire career opposing a customs union. Now when the British people want to come out, he wants to stay in. I know he’s leader of the opposition, but that’s going a bit far.
