LABOUR high command has been challenged over its "confusing" stance on Brexit after leading figures appeared at loggerheads over the party’s official position.
Barry Gardiner, the Shadow International Trade Secretary, insisted remaining in the European customs union after Brexit would be a "disaster" as it would leave the UK bound by EU free trade deals but without achieving the benefits.
His comments came after Jeremy Corbyn at the weekend admitted the party had yet to decide its official position on future customs arrangements while Sir Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, has said membership of the customs union should remain on the negotiating table.
Mr Gardiner told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour: "We leave the customs union because only member states of the European Union are members of the customs union.
"Other countries like Turkey have a separate customs union agreement but the trouble with that is that it gives you an asymmetrical relationship with the third party countries that the EU does a deal with.
"So the EU could do a deal with another country - let's say America - which we would be bound by in the UK; we would have to accept the liberalisation of our markets, we would have to accept their goods coming into our markets on the terms agreed by Europe, which could be prejudicial to us but we would not have the same access into America's markets, we would be bound to try and negotiate it but why would America give us that access when it's got all the liberalisation of our market that it wants. It's a disaster."
The Scot also dismissed the idea of Britain remaining in the single market under a Norwegian-style agreement, saying it would leave the UK like a "vassal state," ie paying money to Brussels without any say over the rules.
But Labour’s Carwyn Jones, the Welsh First Minister, insisted there was no need to leave the single market when Britain left the EU.
"I went to Norway in January, they are not members of the EU but they have almost full access to the single market. You don't have to leave the EU and leave one of the world's biggest markets at the same time.
"That's an interpretation that's been put on the result by the current UK Government and that makes no sense at all," he declared.
But the SNP challenged Scottish Labour to explain the party’s position on the single market after it said a “rift” had opened up between its leading figures.
Joan McAlpine, the SNP MSP, said: “Labour are deeply divided on this fundamental issue and Kezia Dugdale needs to explain where Scottish Labour stand.”
She claimed Mr Corbyn was now not only mimicking the “inflammatory language” of Ukip and the Conservatives on immigration but also seemed unaware of the distinction between single market membership and EU membership.
“It is not only entirely possible for the UK to remain a member of the single market even after Brexit, it is absolutely essential to do so to protect thousands of jobs and our living standards,” declared the Nationalist MSP.
“Kezia Dugdale used to say that Scottish Labour were ‘absolutely committed’ to retaining our single market membership. It’s time for her to explain whether she backs her colleague Carwyn Jones or whether she’ll follow Jeremy Corbyn’s lead and dance to UKIP’s tune,” added Ms McAlpine.
Meanwhile, Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a prominent Remain campaigner, said there should be "clear red water" between his party, the Tories and Ukip over Brexit.
"Taking single market and customs union membership off the table in the Brexit talks is the Tory position, it should not be Labour's," argued the London MP
Responding to Mr Gardiner's comments directly, fellow Labour MP Wes Streeting said: "Where has this come from? We were told customs union is still on the table. Even the Tories are keeping this option open."
Elsewhere, one senior Labour MP admitted, given the "confusing" and "conflicting" frontbench views: “Even I don’t know what the party’s official position is any more.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel