ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Jeremy Corbyn has said “we can’t stop” Brexit from happening, adding that he believes the Labour party would do a better job in the ongoing negotiations.

Asked if he would stop Britain leaving the EU if he could by German magazine Der Spiegel, he said: "We can't stop it.

"The referendum took place. Article 50 has been triggered. What we can do is recognise the reasons why people voted Leave."

Following on from this, he said that Theresa May and the Conservative government were taking the wrong directions in the plans to separate from the EU.

The Labour leader also iterated that his party was not seeking a new vote on any referendum on the withdrawal.

Asked if he felt sorry for Mrs May due her struggles in reaching agreement with Brussels and uniting the Tory party, Mr Corbyn said: "I am a decent human being, I feel sorry for anyone in distress.

"But the best way for anyone to alleviate distress is to take yourself away from the source of it."

Speaking hypothetically, he said that he would not face the same issues Mrs May and her colleagues are.

He said: "No, because we wouldn't be trying to face towards the deregulated economy of the United States, which the one wing of the Tory party is trying to do all the time.

"We would want to make a new and comprehensive customs union with the European Union, one that would obviously protect the Irish border - that's crucial - but also ensure that our supply chains worked in both directions.

"People voted Leave, or they voted Remain, but nobody voted to lose their job. Nobody voted to reduce their living standards or working conditions."

Regarding issues in his own party, he said he would be against Blairite MPs trying to break away and form a new centre party.

He said: "No, I don't want the party to be split because any split would be dangerous for the future of all of us.

"I want them to stay together and recognise that, unless we offer an inclusive radical alternative to what this Tory government is doing, we're not going to win the election. We're offering that radical alternative."

As well as these comments from Mr Corbyn, the Prime Minister has faced fresh criticism from the DUP over her Brexit proposals thus far.

DUP leader Arlene Foster urged the Prime Minister to reflect on her Brexit stance and she warned her party will oppose her current proposals if they go to a parliamentary vote.

The DUP leader said "no unionist" could back Theresa May's apparent advocacy of a withdrawal treaty including a Northern Ireland specific backstop measure, to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

​Earlier on Friday, Jo Johnson resigned as transport minister over Brexit and demanded a second referendum on the final deal.