Labour leader says there is no agreement yet on customs union or workers’ rights

Jeremy Corbyn has said Brexit talks with the government are stalling because of a Tory desire for post-withdrawal deregulation, including as part of a US trade deal.

Corbyn said Labour had been putting forward a robust case for a customs union during the talks over the past week but suggested he feared the two sides would not find common ground.

“There has to be access to European markets and above all there has to be a dynamic relationship to protect the conditions and rights that we’ve got for environment and consumer workplace rights,” he said. “We’ve put those cases very robustly to the government and there’s no agreement as yet.”

Timeline Six key Brexit moments for Theresa May Show Hide Theresa May is elected Conservative leader and, having backed remain, seeks to burnish her credentials as someone who can unite her party by appointing key leave figures to the cabinet, including Boris Johnson as foreign secretary, Liam Fox as trade secretary and David Davis as Brexit secretary. In her first conference speech, May sets a course for a hard Brexit by vowing 'we are going to be a fully independent, sovereign country' and implies the UK will leave the customs union and the single market. Three months later, she delivers the Lancaster House speech that inked her red lines in permanent marker and left her with little room for manoeuvre. Having decided to call a snap general election in order to garner a majority that would allow her to push her Brexit vision through the Commons, a calamitous campaign results in the Conservatives losing their majority. That left May not only turning to the DUP in order to prop up her government but set the scene for the parliamentary deadlock that was to come. May gathers her warring cabinet at Chequers in a bid to set out a compromise negotiating position that has a chance of finding favour with the EU. But a perceived move towards a softer Brexit provokes an immediate backlash from the right of the party, prompting the resignations of Davis and Johnson from the cabinet and new plotting from ERG members. With her deal having been voted down by a crushing 230 majority when she first brought it before the Commons in January, May tries again with 19 days left until the original Brexit date. She is again humiliated when the deal is beaten by a majority of 149 votes, as the process becomes mired in parliamentary paralysis. After weeks of fruitless talks with Labour over a Brexit compromise, May launches her 'new' Brexit plan, with 10 commitments designed to address cross-party concerns about her withdrawal agreement bill. Cabinet agrees to the plan, but Andrea Leadsom resigns as the leader of the House of Commons. By the end of the week, May has been forced to announce her departure.

Meetings are scheduled this week between ministers and shadow ministers on environmental protections, security and workers’ rights, which Corbyn described as “quite interesting, quite long technical discussions, particularly on environment regulations”.

However, there will be no discussion before Easter on the big issues of a customs union or a confirmatory referendum.

Corbyn underlined again that an agreement could only be reached if Theresa May was prepared to accept Labour’s central demand for a common external tariff policy with the EU.

“The government doesn’t appear to be shifting the red lines because they’ve got a big pressure in the Tory party that actually wants to turn this country into a deregulated, low-tax society which will do a deal with Trump. I don’t want to do that,” he said.

Corbyn said the UK had “lost a lot of time by the dithering of the government on bringing issues to parliament,” suggesting he believed the route out of the impasse would be moving on to binding indicative votes in parliament rather than pursuing a compromise deal between the two frontbenches.

Labour has less incentive than the Conservatives to avoid EU elections at the end of May, in which the Tories expect heavy losses. Labour’s national executive committee is conducting final candidate interviews for potential MEPs on Tuesday.

Corbyn said Labour would “fight the elections as a party that is committed to that relationship with Europe, but above all it’s about uniting people. However they voted in 2016, they’re suffering from austerity.”

He said he did not see much electoral threat from the Brexit party, which launched last week and is led by Nigel Farage.

“We have to have a relationship with Europe, in or out of the EU. We have a major trading partnership with Europe and all Farage is offering is some kind of never-never-land, saying we’ll walk away from everything,” he said.

“Well, he should say that to those people whose jobs would be at risk in manufacturing industries and food processing industries. He should say that to those people who are really going to suffer as a result of this.

“We’re serious about having a trading relationship with Europe. We’re serious about our relationship with the rest of the world. I’m not sure he is.”