Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at an event
in Basildon on Labour’s plans for a jobs-first Brexit, said:
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It seems like a long time ago now, but this election was called by
the Prime Minister three years early, supposedly in order to make Britain’s
exit from the European Union easier for her to manage.
A lot has happened since then. The terrible atrocity in Manchester
above all, which has driven home the need to be more effective in the action we
take to protect our people, both at home and abroad.
And then we have the extraordinary meltdown of the Conservative
Party’s own manifesto within days of it being launched.
Having declared war on Britain’s pensioners, it is now all but
impossible to find anyone who can tell you what the Conservative policy
actually is on the critical issue of social care, or how many million people
stand to lose their winter fuel payments.
The older generation is being reminded of a central truth in
British politics: You can’t trust the Tories. You can’t trust the Tories with
your pension; with your tax credits; with your personal independence payments;
with your national insurance contributions; one U-turn and broken promise after
another by this Conservative leadership has made that absolutely clear.
At the same time, we have launched Labour’s own manifesto, setting
out positive and fully-costed policies on funding the NHS; scrapping tuition
fees; recruiting 10,000 more police officers; raising the living wage to £10;
protecting pensioners’ incomes; building more than a million new homes and much
more.
We are asking the British people for their support, above all on
the basis of that programme of social justice.
But it is also right that we return to the issue of Brexit.
Negotiations with the EU leaders will start in just 18 days.
And the British people have a choice over what priorities, what
principles, the British Government will take into those talks.
And which team they trust to lead the difficult negotiations
ahead.
I am proud to be joined here today by Labour’s team of Brexit
negotiators: Keir Starmer; Emily Thornberry; and Barry Gardiner
A team with the skills and experience to get the best for Britain
as we move towards leaving the European Union.
We know the three Tories in whose hands Theresa May has placed our
national future: David Davis; Boris Johnson; and Liam Fox.
Now you know I don’t do personal attacks, so let me just say that
in Labour’s Brexit team, there is no one who has fibbed to the British people
about spending an extra £350 million a week on the NHS because of Brexit; and
nobody who has promised to use Brexit to slash workers’ rights; or slash tax
for big corporations in a continental race to the bottom; or peddled illusions
about the difficulties ahead.
We in Labour understand that getting the right deal, one that
secures our country’s interests for the long-term, will be challenging. A
matter for serious planning and negotiation, not hectoring and threats.
But Labour is ready.
Ready to deliver a deal that gives British businesses and British
society the chance to thrive in a post-Brexit world.
A deal that will allow us to upgrade our economy through public
investment in infrastructure and high skilled jobs
A deal that will make Britain a centre for science, technology and
research, attracting the brightest and best from around the country and the
world, through strategic investment.
A deal that allows us to transform Britain into a country with the
strongest rights and protections, and ends exploitation and undercutting in the
labour market.
A deal that allows us to become a country that values and protects
its public services and invests in its communities.
And a deal that will allow Britain to be a safe and outward
looking country, strengthening friendships and working with allies to create a
better future for our country, continent and our planet.
The Conservatives want a mandate for their Brexit plan – a plan
that puts jobs and living standards at risk and threatens to turn our country
into a low-wage offshore tax haven. “Changing our economic model”, as Theresa
May put it so delicately, leading a race to the bottom in public services and
working conditions.
The party that closed down huge chunks of British industry under
Margaret Thatcher, and now pays for tax handouts for the richest with cuts to
vital public services, hasn’t changed its spots.
So far, the rhetoric and threats from the Tory government has
fostered a toxic climate.
Labour will start negotiations by setting a new tone.
We will confirm to the other member states that Britain is leaving
the European Union. That issue is not in doubt.
But, instead of posturing threats and pumped up animosity, a
Labour Government under my leadership, will set out a plan for Brexit based on
the mutual interests of both Britain and the EU.
Labour will start by giving a clear commitment to the EU nationals
who live, work and contribute a huge amount to British society, that they will
be guaranteed their existing rights.
It is clear, through my own discussions with European leaders,
that it would be the best way to secure reciprocal rights for British nationals
living in other parts of the EU.
It is shameful that the Conservatives haven’t acted on this
already. That three million members of our communities have been left in limbo.
The Conservatives’ refusal to make the simple commitment that
decency demands is a stain on this government’s reputation.
And Labour will be clear from the start: Britain’s economy,
business and workforce need tariff-free access to European markets to protect
jobs and living standards, and securing that access will be our priority.
Britain certainly can thrive and prosper outside the EU. Our
businesses are creative, industrious and inventive.
But they need access to European markets. They need to be part of
unimpeded supply chains and they need the chance to grow beyond our borders in
order to protect and create jobs, wealth and opportunity.
And the EU’s member states have a mutual interest in maintaining
and developing that trade with Britain.
So Britain needs a Labour Government. Instead of putting our
economy first, the Conservatives’ reckless approach has left us isolated and
marginalised.
Increasing the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU without a
deal, which would be the worst outcome for Britain.
Britain is leaving the EU. But let’s be clear, there is no such
thing as ‘no deal’.
If we leave without a positive agreement because we have
needlessly alienated everyone, we still have to trade with the EU, we still
have terms for that trade and very bad ones at that.
Theresa May says no deal is better than a bad deal. Let’s be
clear: ‘No deal’ is in fact a bad deal. It is the worst of all deals, because
it would leave us with World Trade Organisation tariffs and restrictions
instead of the access to European markets we need.
That would mean slapping tariffs on the goods we export: an extra
10 per cent on cars, with the risk that key manufacturers would leave for the
European mainland; taking skilled jobs with them.
In sector after sector, ‘no deal’ could prove to be an economic
disaster. Theresa May’s approach risks a jobs meltdown across Britain.
Instead, Labour will negotiate a tariff-free deal with the EU,
which will benefit both sides, and we will transform our economy for a
post-Brexit Britain through a new industrial strategy, that will use powers
returned from Brussels, and will rewrite the rules of our economy, so that it
serves the interests of the many rather than the few.
Our economy has become dangerously unbalanced; skewed towards
London and the financial sector, while our once proud industrial communities
have had to live through decades of managed decline.
Productivity and investment lag well behind our nearest
competitors; our balance of payments is in deficit and insecure; low paid work
is spreading. Leaving the EU will make addressing these weaknesses even more
urgent.
That’s why a Labour Government is vital to take a more active role
in our economy, working with employers and trade unions to fuel growth and
deliver prosperity to every corner of the country.
Powered by our National Investment Bank and National Transformation
Fund, Labour’s industrial strategy will deliver the investment our economy so
desperately needs.
And our Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, will be
setting out more details of our investment and transformation plan for Britain
tomorrow.
Soon, we will no longer be members of the European Union, but
agreeing a deal that delivers the benefits of the European single market and
the customs union will be the priority for a Labour government.
Leaving the EU will mean the end of free movement of workers
between Europe and Britain.
So Labour’s new rules for managing immigration from Europe will be
fair and based on what’s best for the economy and our communities.
We will start with a package of strong labour market regulation
measures, which will stop the endless undercutting of terms and conditions by
unscrupulous employers, often through agency recruitment and which has fuelled
much recent migration.
We will crack down on unscrupulous employers;
stop overseas-only recruitment of workers;
strengthen safety and protections at work;
give all workers equal rights from day one in a job;
and increase prosecutions of employers evading the minimum wage.
And, for areas where immigration has placed a strain on public
services, Labour will reinstate the migrant impact fund scrapped by the
Conservatives.
Labour’s team will also guarantee and expand the rights and
protections that British workers have secured through EU legislation.
We will bring forward a specific rights and protections Bill that
will lock those protections into British law
The Conservatives simply cannot be trusted on rights at work.
They have led an all-out assault on workers’ rights through their
Trade Union Act.
Boris Johnson has demanded that the Government should scrap the EU
social chapter.
And the Conservatives also failed to back Labour’s efforts in
parliament to protect workers’ rights, which are derived from the European
Union.
Labour will not only protect our existing rights, we will extend
them.
And Labour’s Brexit strategy will also keep Britain safe.
Unlike the Tories, we will not threaten to withdraw security
co-operation from our European allies to get our way. We share similar values,
and the solidarity shown by people across Europe after the recent horrific
attacks in Manchester; only underlines the point.
We need to work together to make Britain safer and Europe safer.
So Labour will use Brexit negotiations to confirm our commitment
to cross border agencies, such as Europol and Eurojust, and we will seek to
continue to use the European arrest warrant.
We will also hire 10,000 more police officers to make our
communities safer, and an additional 1,000 people to help our security services
deal with the threat of terrorism.
Labour is clear that the safety of our citizens should never be
used as a bargaining chip.
The choice in this election is not Brexit or no Brexit.
That issue has been settled.
The choice is between a jobs-first Labour Brexit and a reckless
Tory Brexit, based on a race to the bottom in working conditions and corporate
taxes.
The choice is who you trust to fight for your future? A weak and
wobbly Tory Party, which can’t stick with its own key manifesto commitments for
a week, which always puts the interests of the wealthy and big business first?
Or a Labour team with clear principles and proven competence,
which will put jobs, living standards and the national interest first?
Labour has a plan to transform Britain into a high skill, high
wage economy.
And build new trading relationships across the world.
Labour will build a fairer Britain that the millions who voted
both “remain” and “leave” last year want to see.
By standing for the many not the few, Labour is the only party
which can overcome the divisions of last year’s referendum and deliver a Brexit
that brings our country together.
On 19 June, Labour will be ready. Ready to negotiate a Brexit for
the many not the few.
That is my promise to our country today.