Jeremy Corbyn labels Brexit deal proposals a ‘shambolic mess’ The Labour leader criticised Theresa May at PMQs

Jeremy Corbyn branded the Prime Minister’s Brexit divorce deal as a “failure in its own terms” and accused the Government of overseeing a “shambolic mess” in the negotiations.

The Labour leader attacked the withdrawal agreement secured during Prime Minister’s Questions, warning it will see the UK spending “years with less say over our laws or how our money is spent”.

During a packed Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Corbyn hit out at the proposals, which he said would leave the country’s economy worse off.

The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

‘Bungled’

“After two years of bungled negotiations, from what we know of the Government’s deal it’s a failure in its own terms,” he said.

“It doesn’t deliver a Brexit for the whole country… it breaches the Prime Minister’s own red lines, it doesn’t deliver a strong economic deal that supports jobs and industry, and we know they haven’t prepared seriously for no deal.”

The Labour leader raised the deep divisions within the Conservatives over the proposed deal, and highlighted the thorny issue of whether the UK would be able to unilaterally end the so-called Irish backstop arrangement.

He quoted concerns raised by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox that any such decision must not be “contracted out” to an external arbitrator should either side want to call an end to the backstop.

Deal dispute

Mrs May could only respond by stating that there needed to be a backstop “as an insurance policy, but neither side wants us to be in that backstop”.

In a final assault on the proposals, Mr Corbyn claimed the Government had spent two years negotiating a deal that would leave the UK in an “indefinite halfway house without a real say”.

“Even Conservative MPs say the Prime Minister is offering a choice between the worst of all worlds and a catastrophic series of consequences,” he said.

Mrs May told MPs she was confident that the deal “takes us significantly closer to delivering what the British people voted for in the referendum”.

“We will take back control of our borders, our laws and our money, leave the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy while protecting jobs, security and the integrity of our United Kingdom,” the Prime Minister said.