May defends Brexit deal against cross-party hostility at PMQs

Corbyn says withdrawal plan is a failure but prime minister argues it is in national interest

Theresa May has defended her Brexit deal from criticism across party lines at prime minister’s questions, and accused Jeremy Corbyn of “telling leave voters one thing and remain voters another”.

The Labour leader, in return, condemned the Brexit plan as a failure, a sentiment backed up by questions not just from other opposition parties’ MPs, but several Conservatives.

The first question saw Andrew Rosindell, a long-time Tory critic of May, urge the prime minister to rethink the draft plan, saying his Romford constituents were deeply unhappy with a deal “which they believe does not represent the Brexit they voted for”.

Later in the session the Conservative MP Neil Parish said he liked some elements of the proposal, “but it is not good enough as it stands”.

In Corbyn’s first question he referenced comments by ministers such as the new work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, who predicted on Wednesday that MPs would stop a no-deal Brexit even if they voted down May’s plan.

“Now that a number of government ministers have confirmed this morning that leaving the EU with no deal is not an option, does the prime minister agree there are no circumstances under which Britain would leave with no deal?” he asked.

May disputed this, saying her plan was the only sensible option: “If you look at the alternative to having that deal with the European Union, it will either be more uncertainty or division, or it could risk no Brexit at all.”

Corbyn later mocked May’s decision to go to Brussels later on Wednesday without her new Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, calling him “another non-travelling Brexit secretary”. He added: “I wonder if the post is now an entirely ceremonial one.”

He criticised May over the idea of extending the transition period if a permanent deal was not completed by the end of 2020, which would require British payments to the European Union. “The prime minister’s idea of taking back control of our money is to hand the EU a blank cheque.”

May responded by rounding on Corbyn and his comment at the weekend that he had not read all of the 580-page deal.

“He says there’s a problem with the deal and he would do it differently. He wants to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement but, as I say, he hasn’t read it,” she said. “He wants to oppose any deal no matter how good it is for the UK. He will accept any European Union deal no matter how bad it is for the UK.

“He wants to use the implementation period that he would vote against to renegotiate the treaty that delivers the implementation period. And he’s said another referendum isn’t an issue for today, but it could be an issue for tomorrow. He doesn’t know how he’d vote, he doesn’t know when it would be, he doesn’t even know what the question would be.”

Corbyn said it was necessary to keep options open because of the “shambles this government has got into”.

“This deal is a failure. It fails the prime minister’s red lines, fails Labour’s six tests, and failed to impress the new Northern Ireland minister who, just hours before he was appointed, said: ‘The deal is dead.’

“Instead of giving confidence to the millions of people who voted both leave and remain, this half-baked deal fails to give any hope that can bring the country together again.”

He said May should step down if she was unable to get a deal through parliament and “make way for those who can and will”.

May replied: “The right honourable gentleman is playing party politics. He’s opposing a deal he hasn’t read, he’s promising a deal he can’t negotiate, he’s telling leave voters one thing and remain voters another. Whatever the right honourable gentleman might do, I will act in the national interest.”

Contributor

Peter Walker Political correspondent

The GuardianTramp

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