JEREMY Corbyn has left the door open to the possibility of Labour supporting Britain remaining in the European single market for the long term after Brexit.
Labour has already shifted its position, saying that it now supports the country remaining in the single market during the transitional period beyond 2019.
But in an interview with BBC Radio’s World At One, the party leader was asked what would happen after that.
He said: “We want a relationship which allows us to trade within the single market. Whether that is formal membership - which is only possible, I believe, if you are actually a member of the EU - or whether it is an agreed trading relationship, is open for discussion.”
Mr Corbyn has previously said the UK would have to leave the single market because it was "inextricably linked" with EU membership.
However, his latest remarks suggest that the Labour leader has not closed his mind to the so-called “Norway option,” whereby Britain becomes a member of the European Economic Area, where it would have access to the single market, pay a fee but have no vote over the EU’s rules.
Crucially, under this option people from the EU would be free to work and live in the UK.
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 here