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‘This really is a shambles’: Corbyn v May at PMQs - video highlights

Jeremy Corbyn attacks Theresa May over Brexit talks 'shambles'

This article is more than 6 years old

Labour leader says DUP seems to be ‘ruling the roost’, but PM says she is confident negotiations will move on to next phase

Jeremy Corbyn has accused the government of presiding over “a shambles” in the Brexit negotiations, using a noisy prime minister’s questions in the wake of abortive talks in Brussels to charge Theresa May with having no answers on a future deal.

May – who faced regular mocking laughter from the Labour benches – insisted she was confident Brexit talks would reach the next stage on schedule, and accused Labour of being divided over what outcome it wanted to see.

However, she also faced a difficult time from some of her own backbenchers, with three fervently pro-Brexit Conservative MPs seeking reassurance over possible concessions to the EU during talks earlier in the week.

Jacob Rees-Mogg asked whether May need to “apply a new coat of paint to her red lines, because I fear on Monday they were beginning to look a bit pink”, while Peter Bone jokingly asked if he should accompany her to Brussels to stiffen her resolve.

Bernard Jenkin was more pointed still over the idea the European court of justice might keep some role in UK affairs. Many nations sought free trade deals, he said: “But none of these opportunities will come our way if we remain shackled to EU regulations after we’ve left the EU.”

Corbyn said the collapse on Monday of an initial deal with the European commission over the DUP’s objections to plans for Northern Ireland were indicative of a wider malaise in May’s government.

“Eighteen months since the referendum, no answers to the questions,” the Labour leader told the Commons. “Today they haven’t yet concluded phase one, and the DUP appear to be ruling the roost and telling her what to do.

“Whether it’s Brexit, the national health service, social care, our rip-off railways, rising child poverty, growing pensioner poverty, or universal credit, this government is unable to solve important issues facing this country. In fact it’s making them worse.

“The economy is slowing, more people are in poverty, Brexit negotiations in a shambles. This government is clearly not fit for the future. If they can’t negotiate a good deal wouldn’t it be better if they just got out of the way?”

Quick Guide

Why is the Irish border a stumbling block for Brexit?

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Counties and customs

Inside the EU, both Ireland and Northern Ireland are part of the single market and customs union so share the same regulations and standards, allowing a soft or invisible border between the two.

Britain’s exit from the EU – taking Northern Ireland with it – risks a return to a hard or policed border. The only way to avoid this post-Brexit is for regulations on both sides to remain more or less the same in key areas including food, animal welfare, medicines and product safety.

The 'backstop' in Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement was intended to address this - stating that if no future trade agreement could be reached between the EU and the UK, then rules and regulations would stay as they are. This has been rejected by Brexit supporters as a 'trap' to keep the UK in the EU's customs union, which would prevent the UK striking its own independent trade deals. 

There are an estimated 72m road vehicle crossings a year between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and about 14% of those crossings are consignments of goods, some of which may cross the border several times before they reach a consumer. Brexit supporters say this can be managed by doing checks on goods away from the border, but critics say it will be difficult to police this without any physical infrastructure like border posts or cameras, which could raise tensions in the divided communities of Ireland. 


Interactive: A typical hour in the life of the Irish border

Photograph: Design Pics Inc/Design Pics RF
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May responded by accusing Corbyn of regularly “making promises that he knows he can’t deliver” on issues such as student debt.

The prime minister also confirmed what her Brexit secretary, David Davis, had told a committee of MPs earlier on Wednesday: that the government had not carried out dozens of impact analyses on how sections of the economy could be affected by Brexit.

“Can the prime minister put us out of our misery: do they exist or don’t they?” Corbyn asked. “Have they done the work or haven’t they? That is surely one question she can answer after 18 months.”

May replied: “There were no 58 sectoral impact assessments. There was sectoral analysis. Over 800 pages of sectoral analysis has been published and made available to the select committee.”

A PMQs always likely to be focused on talks with the EU began unpromisingly for May when a question from one of her backbenchers, Henry Bellingham, seeking a “quick update on the Brexit negotiations” brought laughter from the Labour benches.

May responded by insisting the government was not watering down Brexit: “We’re leaving the European Union, we’re leaving the single market and the customs union, but we will do what is right in the interests of the whole of the United Kingdom. And nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

Corbyn began by quoting Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, who in July said Brexit negotiations would be “the easiest in human history”. He asked, mockingly: “Does the prime minister still agree with that assessment?”

May replied: “Negotiations are in progress and very good progress has been made,” bringing competing sets of cheers and and mocking shouts from the government and opposition benches.

The prime minister insisted there were only “a couple of things” to be agreed before talks with the EU could move on to substantive trade talks, and that the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, was “confident that we will be able to achieve sufficient progress”.

May and Corbyn clashed over how the Irish border situation would be eventually resolved, with the prime minister arguing that, beyond long-agreed general principles, it remained too early to give precise details.

May said she would “ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland”.

She continued: “We will do that while we respect the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, and while we respect the internal market and respect the internal market of the United Kingdom.

“Those Labour members who shout, ‘How?’ – that’s the whole point of the second phase of the negotiations. We aim to deliver this as part of our overall trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and we can only get into that when we get into phase two. We have a plan, he has none.”

Corbyn gave a scathing reply: “Eighteen months after the referendum, the prime minister is unable to answer the question. And on Monday, as she thought she was coming here to make a statement it was vetoed by the leader of the DUP. The tail really is wagging the dog here.”

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