Jeremy Corbyn's customs union idea just might fly

It was a Freudian slip that hinted at the real question behind Jeremy Corbyn’s big Brexit speech in Coventry. As he reached out to moderate Conservative MPs to join him in supporting a new customs union with the EU, the Labour leader appeared to accidentally offer them “new cake” instead.

Blink and you missed it, but for those who have long worried that Labour is emulating Boris Johnson’s infamous “cake-and-eat-it” approach to Brexit, it was an unfortunate reminder that simply declaring what Britain wants from its negotiations with the EU is not the same as achieving it. Labour’s tactic for peeling off anxious Tories is widely seen as smart domestic politics, but whether it proves a smart policy too depends on convincing other countries to go along with it.

Fortunately for those who hope this tactic could yet unlock Britain’s paralysis over Brexit, there was the beginning of an answer to the question as well. The brief verbal stumble was followed by a much more nuanced explanation than either party has offered before. The key caveat, stressed Corbyn, was that any new customs deal with the EU had to involve an agreement for both sides to also work together on future trade negotiations with the rest of the world.

“The option of a new UK customs union with the EU would need to ensure the UK has a say in future trade deals ... being able to negotiate agreement of new trade deals in our national interest,” he said. “Labour would not countenance a deal that left Britain as a passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others. That would mean ending up as mere rule takers.”

Source: theguardian