Conservative response to Labour Party Conference session on Brexit and International Affairs

Brexit Minister Steve Baker MP said:

“Keir Starmer’s speech shows Labour have no plan for Brexit, no interest in controlling our borders and no desire to make the most of the opportunities it will bring.

“Their ‘Brexit ban’ on a vote at conference shows just how divided they are.

“The Conservatives are the only party working to make a success of Brexit.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Labour are totally divided on Brexit and have no plan:

Labour's Brexit conference ban. Despite being the biggest issue facing the country, Brexit was not one of the 8 topics selected for votes at Labour conference (Jessica Elgot Twitter, 24 September 2017, link)

Senior figures across the party have expressed outrage at the decision:

Chris Leslie MP: No Brexit vote at #Lab17 conference?! How utterly ridiculous. Many members will be shocked at manoeuvring to avoid biggest issue of our time (Twitter, 24 September 2017, link)

Chuka Umunna MP: I can't believe no Brexit related motion is being debated at #Lab17 tomorrow. We should not be ducking this debate -we should be leading it (Twitter, 24 September 2017, link)

Ben Bradshaw MP:  Keeping #Brexit, biggest issue of our time, off our #lab17 agenda is silly and undermines the claim that we are listening to our members (Twitter, 24 September 2017, link)

Heidi Alexander MP:  I am gobsmacked. How can @uklabour not have a full & proper debate on #Brexit policy at #Lab17? We will be a laughing stock. (Twitter, 24 September 2017, link)

Stephen Doughty MP: Not entirely sure what's happened to giving members a freer voice at conference if being heavily whipped in votes... #Brexit #Lab17 (Twitter, 24 September 2017, link)

Labour’s letter to Jeremy Corbyn on the single market. Labour MPs published an open letter to Jeremy Corbyn telling him to commit to staying in the single market and customs union. ‘So at our Conference this week, Labour should commit to staying in the Single Market and Customs Union’ (The Observer, 24 September 2017, link).

Jeremy Corbyn refuses to commit to stay in the European single market. Andrew Marr: ’66 per cent of your party members want to stay in the single market, will you listen to them?’ Jeremy Corbyn: ‘Of course I will listen to them. What I would say is, the important priority is to ensure is that we have a tariff trade free access to the European market, half of all of our trade is with Europe, I would also say we need to look very carefully at the terms of any trade relationship because at the moment we are part of the single market, obviously, that has within it restrictions on state aid and state spending. That has pressures on it through the European Union to privatise rail, for example. We have got to be quite careful about the powers we need as national government’ (The Andrew Marr Show, 24 September 2017).

Jeremy Corbyn said being a member of the single market ‘is dependent on membership of the EU’. ‘The single market is dependent on membership of the EU. What we have said all along is that we want a tariff free trade access to the European market and a partnership with Europe in the future’ (The Guardian, 23 July 2017, link).

Corbyn also said the UK cannot remain in the single market if we are leaving the EU. Andrew Marr: ‘So we have to leave the single market?’ Jeremy Corbyn: ‘Yes’ (The Andrew Marr Show, 23 July 2017).

Freedom of movement. Labour again revealed splits in their approach to freedom of movement:

In an interview with Andrew Marr, Jeremy Corbyn refused to commit to ending freedom of movement from the EU, saying ‘we have to recognise that in the future we’re going to need people to work in Europe and people from Europe are going to need work here. There’s going to be a lot of movement’ (The Andrew Marr Show, 24 September 2017).

Clive Lewis MP says those who are opposed to free movement are racist.  ‘I believe in freedom of movement. You talk about managing migration. You are not going to like to hear this - it always comes back down to something the Left in this country has very much difficulty with, which is that it is ultimately about racism. It comes down to racism’ (The Sun, 24 September 2017, link).

John McDonnell says Labour could support free movement if the single market were reformed. Labour would be in favour of keeping a form of free movement after Brexit if a "changed single market" could be formed, John McDonnell has said. The shadow chancellor hinted at a softening in his party’s position on the single market after the EU withdrawal, suggesting European leaders might agree to reforms which retained some of the benefits of the existing deal (The Independent, 24 September 2017,link).

Caroline Flint wants an end to freedom of movement.  ‘People do not want to have our migration decided by 27 other EU states’ (Sunday with Niall Paterson, 24 September 2017).

Labour’s Keir Starmer said freedom of movement could remain permanently as it stands, once we leave the European Union. ‘For EU workers, he said free movement might simply be implemented differently by the UK. The actual rule as it stands is you can move across a border for three months, after which you must be in a job or be able to support yourself. That would be a good starting place, it seems to me, for a discussion about immigration policy” (Evening Standard, 21 September 2017, link).

Jeremy Corbyn previously accepted an end to freedom of movement. Sophy Ridge: ‘Because the reason why I’m pressing you on this is because you’re saying that you want freedom of movement to end which effectively means that the UK has to come out of the single market.  I understand why Theresa May wants to do that, because she wants to bring immigration down but if you don’t necessarily want to bring immigration down then why on earth do you want free movement of people to end?’ Jeremy Corbyn: ‘We are leaving the European Union therefore that principle is changed at that time’ (Sophy Ridge on Sunday, 21 May 2017).

 Labour are using every means possible to block Brexit in Parliament:

Jeremy Corbyn previously stated that Labour would not block Brexit, yet he instructed Labour MPs to vote against the Repeal Bill at its second reading with Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer calling on Conservative MPs to join Labour in blocking Brexit (Hansard, 24 October 2016, Col. 29, link, The Guardian, 5 September2017, link; politico.eu, 7 September 2017, link).

Labour tabled an amendment to the Repeal Bill to stop it’s progress through Parliament. Labour’s wreaking amendment to the Repeal Bill was supported by Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry, Tom Watson, Matthew Pennycook, Mr Nicholas Brown and Stephen Kinnock (parliament.uk, 11 September 2017, link).

Our plan to deliver a successful Brexit.

While we are leaving the EU, we are not leaving Europe. Britain has always – and will always – stand with its friends and allies in defence of our shared values, our security, stability and our prosperity. 

Negotiations

We have made good progress in negotiating the details of our exit, including on the Belfast Agreement, the Common Travel Area in Northern Ireland, and Citizens’ Rights, for instance securing agreement on issues related to residence, healthcare, social security and pensions.

To help move the negotiations on, we have:

o   Offered further reassurance to EU citizens living in the UK that they will be able to carry on living their lives as before, and commits to incorporate our agreement on citizens’ rights fully into UK law;

o   Reassured EU member states that they will not need to pay more or receive less money over the remainder of the current budget plan as a result of our decision to leave. We will honour the commitments we have made during the period of our membership – but this can only be resolved as part of the settlement of all the issues the PM spoke about today.

o   Set out a model for our future economic partnership and security relationship with the EU – which will be to our mutual benefit.

Economic partnership

We recognise that we can’t leave the EU and have everything stay the same – the single market is built on abalance of rights and obligations. We propose a unique and ambitious economic partnership based on our rules and regulation being the same at the start, and on maintaining our commitment to free trade and high standards – while allowing for us both to make changes where we want to, in a stable and orderly way.

Security partnership

On security, we have proposed a bold new strategic partnership with the EU, including a comprehensive agreement on security, law enforcement and criminal justice co-operation. The United Kingdom is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe’s security. We will continue to offer aid and assistance to EU member states that are the victims of armed aggression, terrorism and natural or manmade disasters.

Implementation

We are proposing a strictly time-limited implementation period where we continue to have access to one another’s markets on current terms and take part in existing security measures. We expect this to last for a period of around two years.

On immigration, it will take time to put in place the new system required to re-take control of the UK’s borders. So during the implementation period, people will continue to be able to come and live and work in the UK. But there will be a registration system – an essential preparation for the new regime.