Labour's European Parliament leader: we are better off in the EU

Speaking exclusively to TheArticle, Richard Corbett, leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party said that, if faced with a deal “which will still not be as good as the UK’s membership of the EU,” the Labour Party would “conclude that it is better to campaign to remain in the European Union.”

Corbett, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, also said, “Myself and many other party members will continue to believe that we are better off in the European Union.”

Back in September, delegates at Labour conference agreed that a future Labour government would negotiate a new deal with the EU. This would then be put in a referendum with the options being the deal or Remain. When a new deal had been negotiated the party would call a special one-day party conference in the spring to decide how to campaign in its proposed referendum.

“From my experience on the doorstep it’s gone down quite well,” said Corbett. “The key idea is that any Brexit outcome will have to go back to the public to have the final say — that’s appreciated by voters.”

Commenting on what a renegotiated Brexit deal could look like under Labour, Corbett suggested that it would be one that “doesn’t require years and years of new trade negotiations.” In any deal, he said, the UK would “remain in a customs union with the EU, and so it is a Brexit that could be delivered immediately if people wanted.”

“However, Johnson’s deal — as we know — is a formal Brexit at the end of January but with everything else still to negotiate.”

Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour will negotiate a Brexit deal which maintains a very close trading relationship with the EU. This, he claims, would be achieved by staying in a customs union and keeping close alignment to the single market.

Critics argue that being in a customs union as well as regulatory alignment to the single market would prevent the UK from striking its own trade deals with other countries on goods, such as the US. Under the deal negotiated by Johnson, the UK would leave both the single market and customs union. This would require checks to take place on some goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Before the UK can officially leave the European Union, the Withdrawal Agreement has to be voted on in both the UK and European Parliament. Only once the European Parliament has approved it can the UK then leave the EU on the terms recently negotiated by Boris Johnson. Pressed on the issue of Johnson’s newly negotiated Withdrawal Agreement, Corbett said that, if Johnson wins the election and submits his plan to Brussels, “We will certainly vote against it when it comes before us.”

He also spoke of the growing concern among European colleagues in relation to the potential risks posed by Johnson’s deal.

“I do hear more and more from European colleagues saying of Johnson’s Brexit deal: hang on a minute, this deal doesn’t guarantee a level playing field in our economic relationship, we’re being set up here for the ‘Singapore-upon-Thames’ scenario — as it’s commonly known — by the UK competing by lower standards in areas such as environmental protections and workers’ rights, triggering a race to the bottom across Europe.”

“I’ve spoken to a number of reps and there is an emerging consensus that it is actually more work to keep us in the EU than it is for Brexit to happen.”

“Democracy is by no means an efficient form of government. It’s messy and incredibly frustrating, but it is necessary.

“And while we are seeing those in the European Parliament appealing to those in power to give the UK more time, we are seeing messages from influential people. There are quite a few alarm bells ringing. There are quite a few mutterings within the European Parliament. And it’s growing.”