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MPs HAVE no choice but to reject the deeply unpopular deal that Prime Minister Theresa May has agreed with the European Union, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said today.
Responding to Ms May’s statement on Brexit in the Commons, he urged MPs to vote down the deal that was agreed in Brussels yesterday by saying that they would have nothing to lose by doing so.
He said: “The Prime Minister says, if we reject this deal, it will take us back to square one.
“The truth is, under this government, we have never got off square one.
“Even the Prime Minister’s own cabinet can’t bring themselves to sell this deal. The Foreign Secretary said yesterday, and I quote, ‘this deal mitigates most of the negative impact.’ Hardly a glowing endorsement.
“The silence from much of the rest of the Cabinet is telling. They know these negotiations have failed and they know it will leave Britain worse off.”
Mr Corbyn mentioned that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research confirmed today that her deal would mean the economy would shrink by 3.9 per cent — more than Britain’s £8.9 billion annual net contribution to the EU.
He asked Ms May to confirm that, under her deal, Britain would have to “accept whatever the European Union demands to extend the transition period” to avoid the backstop that would lead to a regulatory border down the Irish Sea.
He also warned that, under the deal, Britain would have to “agree to demands on waters and quota shares” to get a future trade deal or extend the transition and asserted that deal opened the door for Spain to have “a role over Gibraltar.”
Mr Corbyn added: “Ploughing on is not stoic, it’s an act of national self-harm, instead of threatening this house with a no-deal scenario or a no-Brexit scenario, the Prime Minister now needs to prepare a plan B.”
Ms May said that the British people wanted control of “our borders, they want an end to free movement and this deal delivers it.”
On fishing, she said: “If we were in the backstop we would be outside the common fisheries policy and we would be deciding who has access to fish in our waters.”
On Gibraltar, she said: “This government stood by Gibraltar and we resisted changes to the withdrawal agreement, which the Spanish government wished to make.”
