Shropshire Star

Shropshire politicians at odds over Corbyn Brexit speech

Politicians today clashed over Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge that a Labour government would form a new customs union with the EU after Brexit.

Published
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers his Brexit speech

Labour’s Bill McClements, who led the Shropshire Remain campaign before the referendum, welcomed the move and warned that leaving the customs union would lead to “huge damage” for the country’s economy.

But Daniel Kawczynski, Shrewsbury and Atcham Tory MP and Brexit campaigner, said that allowing Britain to remain in a customs union with the EU would be a “betrayal” of what people voted for in the 2016 referendum.

Labour leader Mr Corbyn used a high-profile speech in the West Midlands to say that his party would would try and form a “new and comprehensive” UK-EU customs union to ensure tariff-free trade after Brexit.

A customs union would mean that businesses pay no customs fee within the union allowing goods to move freely between borders, although it would prevent the UK signing its own trade deals with countries outside the union.

The policy change suggests that Labour could line up with Conservative rebels against the government, in a move that would exploit divisions within the Tory party.

Speaking at Coventry University, Mr Corbyn appeared to suggest the UK would not be able to sign its own trade agreements as a result of the move, but stressed he would demand the EU ensures the government “has a say in future trade deals” in the national interest.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Coventry

He also said Labour would not agree to a deal that left Britain as a “passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others”.

Mr Corbyn also stressed free movement of EU citizens would end “as a statement of fact” when the UK leaves the EU, committing to the “reasonable management of migration”.

Mr McClements welcomed the announcement, and said that leaving the customs union would be a risk to business in the country. He said: “My red line would be if we come out of the customs union, the damage to our economy will be huge.

“It is naive to believe that a company like Toyota will remain in the UK if we come out of the customs union in the long term. Toyota makes cars in Derby which we sell to the EU. Coming out of the customs union damages that in the long term.

“It does depend on what Theresa May manages to negotiate sector by sector, but it is very dangerous. I believe coming out of the customs union would damage our economy by more than eight to 10 per cent in the medium term.”

He added: “I’ve worked all my life in industry, traded in 17 countries such as China, Japan, in the EU and the US, and I know something about trade and business and the bureaucracy of coming out of the customs union will be massive.”

Dismissed

Mr Kawczynski dismissed Mr Corbyn’s announcement and said it was a way of seeking to avoid implementing the result of the EU referendum. He said: “To be in the customs union would be a massive betrayal of the British people and what they voted for in the referendum, and anyone who now seeks to bind the hands of giving in to the customs union is clearly doing this for politically motivated reasons to prevent Brexit from happening.

“Brexit means becoming a sovereign state and it means pulling out of the customs union. We need to go back to the default position which is a sovereign state with supremacy of courts and parliament.

“Any deviation from that is a betrayal of the British people and that’s why I think Mr Corbyn’s conduct is irresponsible.”

In his speech Mr Corbyn said: “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 new 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 there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need whatsoever for a hard border in Northern Ireland.”

He spoke as Cabinet members prepared for a Thursday meeting where they will finalise the government’s position ahead of a major Brexit speech from Mrs May on Friday.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “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.”