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Corbyn insists Labour's Brexit stance 'really isn't complicated' I will be a very different kind of PM to Johnson, insists Corbyn
(about 8 hours later)
Party leader reiterates his decision not to back leave or remain ahead of election Labour leader seeks to deflect Tory attacks on his style of leadership ahead of election
Jeremy Corbyn has repeated his insistence that his party will not take sides between leave and remain ahead of the election, as he said Labour’s Brexit policy “really isn’t complicated”. Jeremy Corbyn will promise to be a prime minister who will “hold open the door for others to walk through” on Wednesday, as he seeks to preempt Tory attacks on his style of leadership.
The Labour leader was delivering a speech on Brexit in the leave-voting seat of Harlow, Essex, as the party’s election campaign gathers pace. Addressing a rally in Telford on Wednesday, Corbyn will claim he is only seeking power in order to share it as he launches his own attack on Boris Johnson’s leadership.
“It’s time to take the decision out of the hands of politicians and trust the people to decide,” he said. “This time the choice will be between leaving with a sensible deal or remaining in the European Union. That’s the policy. It really isn’t complicated.” “Think of it like this: a good leader doesn’t just barge through a door and let it swing back in the faces of those following behind. A good leader holds open the door for others to walk through because everyone has a contribution to make,” he will say.
Boris Johnson wrote to Corbyn on Monday night, accusing him of failing to be clear about Labour’s policy, and asking which side he would take in a future referendum. The Conservatives have repeatedly singled out Corbyn’s leadership style for ridicule. Michael Gove mocked him last week as being “terminally weak”, and when Labour was resisting the idea of a general election, Johnson repeatedly referred to him as a “chlorinated chicken”.
Asked whether opposition frontbenchers would be allowed to campaign on either side, Corbyn said a decision would be taken at a special Labour conference. The Labour leader will seek to confront such attacks directly. “I will be a very different kind of prime minister. Not the kind of prime minister who believes he was born to rule. Not the kind who thinks politics is a game,” he will say.
“We will come to a view as a party – and at that point we will give that view to the people of the country.” Some shadow cabinet members, including Jon Trickett, have suggested they would be minded to campaign for a Labour Brexit. Corbyn will be giving his third major speech of Labour’s general election campaign, which he launched in London last Thursday.
Corbyn said: “People sometimes accuse me of trying to talk to both sides at once in the Brexit debate, to people who voted leave and remain. You know what? They’re right. He will promise to bring about “real change” – the slogan of Labour’s campaign – and call on voters to judge his party by its record on tackling an extensive of social issues, from class sizes to pensioner poverty.
“Why would I only want to talk to half the country? I don’t want to live in half a country,” he added. The speech comes as Labour seeks to draw a line under the divisive issue of Brexit – which Corbyn addressed in a speech on Tuesday – and move on to other policies.
At Tuesday’s event in leave-supporting Harlow, Essex, the Labour leader defended his claim that a trade deal with the US could cost the NHS £500m a week in increased drugs prices as “accurate and credible”.
Labour has repeatedly sought to highlight the risk of health service privatisation in a post-Brexit trade deal with Donald Trump.
Corbyn repeated the argument that it could add £500m a week to the NHS drugs bill – which Gove had earlier dismissed as “ridiculous nonsense”.
Challenged about the analysis, Corbyn described it as “an accurate and a credible figure”.
The party is so keen to highlight the figure that it mocked up a picture of a bright blue Conservative battlebus, with “we’ll send Trump £500m a week,” emblazoned on the side – and called it a “donation” to Johnson’s campaign.
Corbyn’s audience of Labour activists took up a chant of “not for sale, not for sale,” when he mentioned the risk of NHS privatisation. Corbyn replied “I hear you!” and urged them to ensure voters hear that message too.
The US government would seek to secure “non-discriminatory treatment” for American companies within Britain’s public sector, according to the official document setting out US negotiating aims for a free-trade deal.
The £500m-a-week figure comes from health academic Andrew Hill, from Liverpool University, and represents an estimate of the increased cost, if all NHS drugs were charged at US prices.
In a recent Channel 4 Dispatches investigation, Hill said “our annual drugs bill for the NHS is £18bn, if we had to have American drug prices we are talking about £18bn a year going up to £45bn, so that’s an extra £27bn a year, or £500m a week extra for the NHS to pay.”
The Conservatives have repeatedly ruled out making the NHS part of any trade deal, with Boris Johnson telling the House of Commons earlier this year, “under no circumstances will we agree to any free trade deal that puts the NHS on the table. It is not for sale.”
However, the Dispatches team found evidence that drugs pricing had been raised in several meetings between UK and US officials.
Labour has alighted on the issue because it helps to underpin Corbyn’s argument that Johnson would like to “hijack” Brexit, to impose rightwing policies on Britain.
In his speech on Tuesday, Corbyn repeated his insistence that Labour will not take sides between leave and remain ahead of the election.
He said working-class voters in Harlow and York – leave- and remain-voting constituencies respectively – are “up against it” but “not against each other”.He said working-class voters in Harlow and York – leave- and remain-voting constituencies respectively – are “up against it” but “not against each other”.
Speaking before Corbyn, the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, also insisted Labour’s position was “simple”. And Starmer warned that Johnson’s deal could be a “trapdoor” to a no-deal Brexit in December 2020, after the environment secretary, Michael Gove, ruled out extending the transition period. Speaking before Corbyn, the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, insisted Labour’s position was “simple”. And Starmer warned that if Johnson won a majority Britain would take “a decisive lurch to the right”.
Under Johnson’s withdrawal agreement, if a free trade deal with the EU cannot be struck, and the status quo transition period is not extended, the UK would revert to trading on World Trade Organization rules.
Starmer warned that if Johnson won a majority Britain would take “a decisive lurch to the right”.
Asked how confident he was that a deal could be negotiated and a referendum held within six months, Corbyn said: “The deadline we’ve set for ourselves is a realistic one. We wouldn’t be saying this if we didn’t believe it to be realistic, and doable.”
He repeated his warning that a free trade deal with the US could raise drugs prices by giving corporations access to the health service. “We’ll say it again and again until it gets through to the White House: our NHS is not for sale.”
As well as Starmer, who has been a keen advocate of a remain position, the carefully choreographed event at a hotel also featured the shadow employment rights minister, Laura Pidcock, who in the past has been more sceptical about a second referendum.As well as Starmer, who has been a keen advocate of a remain position, the carefully choreographed event at a hotel also featured the shadow employment rights minister, Laura Pidcock, who in the past has been more sceptical about a second referendum.
“I did not come into politics to only discuss amendments, sub-clauses, and one piece of legislation over and over again: I came into politics to stand alongside people who are battling austerity,” Pidcock said. “People are not leave or remain: there are common bonds between people in my constituency who voted both ways.
“We refuse to be driven down the road of leave and remain: we respect those on both sides of the argument. This election is about saving the planet, for goodness sake. It’s about ending homelessness with a massive housebuilding programme. It’s about saving the NHS, taking the profits out of ill health.”“We refuse to be driven down the road of leave and remain: we respect those on both sides of the argument. This election is about saving the planet, for goodness sake. It’s about ending homelessness with a massive housebuilding programme. It’s about saving the NHS, taking the profits out of ill health.”
Labour hopes Tuesday’s speech will help to draw a line under the divisive issue, and allow the party to shift the election debate on to other issues.
Harlow, where Corbyn was speaking, is a seat held by the Conservative Robert Halfon with a majority of just over 7,000.Harlow, where Corbyn was speaking, is a seat held by the Conservative Robert Halfon with a majority of just over 7,000.
Labour is targeting seats like these, but Halfon, who was out campaigning locally himself, said Corbyn’s promise of a second referendum with remain on the ballot paper would “go down like a cup of cold sick here”.Labour is targeting seats like these, but Halfon, who was out campaigning locally himself, said Corbyn’s promise of a second referendum with remain on the ballot paper would “go down like a cup of cold sick here”.
“He’s come to a 70% leave area, with Emily Thornberry saying we’re a remain country: it’s like Dracula walking into a garlic factory,” he said.“He’s come to a 70% leave area, with Emily Thornberry saying we’re a remain country: it’s like Dracula walking into a garlic factory,” he said.
The Brexit party hopes it can take on Labour in some of its leave-voting heartland seats. Asked about that threat, Corbyn criticised the Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage, as a “one-trick pony from a wealthy organisation” with nothing to say about the issues voters care about.
“He is not offering to defend the NHS, he is not offering housing, social justice, reducing equality in this country. He doesn’t actually offer anything to any of those communities,” Corbyn said.
The Labour leader has sought to prevent shadow cabinet members straying from Labour’s formal position that it will not decide its Brexit stance until after the election, saying on Sunday: “The debate is over.”
Labour faces an electoral threat from the Liberal Democrats in some remain-voting constituencies, but also needs to hold on to leave-voting seats.
The Labour candidate for Harlow, Laura McAlpine, said: “This is our chance to kick out Robert Halfon, together with the Conservative government.” She told the audience: “Brothers and sisters, this society under the Tories doesn’t work,” adding that Brexit had been the biggest distraction from the real issues in people’s lives.
She urged Labour activists to take time off to help her campaign in the run-up to the 12 December election: “Pledge to take the day off work, pledge to take the week off work – we can’t do it without you.”