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Jeremy Corbyn will convene a meeting of top shadow ministers today as he faces pressure to shift Labour’s stance on Brexit.

Around a dozen senior Labour politicians are set to discuss Brexit policy, days after around 17,000 Labour members emailed the party to demand a say over the issue.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting in Parliament is the first gathering of the Shadow Cabinet Brexit sub-committee for around a month.

It comes after reports shadow ministers will confront Mr Corbyn this week and urge him to back staying in the EU customs union after Brexit.

The Labour leader has said he wants to stay in “a customs union” with the EU. But that may stop short of continuing what exists now.

Senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper called for the party to back remaining in the customs union altogether yesterday. And former leader Neil Kinnock went much further, declaring: “We should stop Brexit to save the NHS”.

Yesterday Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry appeared to hint at a softer stance - saying the customs deal could be “very much like” what exists at the moment.

(Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror)

She said: “We cannot see a way forward when it comes to Northern Ireland or to tariff free trade across Europe without us being in some form of customs union.

"That probably looks very much like the customs union that there is at the moment.”

One senior Labour figure told the Mirror the party could have to back closer EU alignment, saying: “Everyone knows Jeremy Corbyn has never been a European enthusiast... but the leadership position has been confronted with a lot of factual realities”.

They added: “In a few months’ time we will be confronted with an emerging Tory Brexit deal which will come nowhere near meeting our 'six tests'. What do we do then? We will have to oppose it.”

But another senior figure said they did not foresee any change to Labour’s policy “at the moment”, adding: “Brexit opinion is hardening in my constituency”.

And a source close to the Labour leader played down the significance of today's meeting.

The source said the party’s policy was “well-known and well laid out” - and stressed the sub-committee is “not a decision-making body”.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer was among party figures who discussed Brexit yesterday at Labour’s National Policy Forum in Leeds.

(Image: AFP)

Around 17,000 members have e-mailed the party asking to be consulted on the issue.

Labour has eight policy commissions, but not one specifically about Brexit. A new group has now been formed with representatives of each commission which met for the first time over the weekend.

Ms Thornberry insisted Labour members did have a voice on Brexit policy.

She told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “We’ve got the national policy forum going on at the moment. So there will be a debate.”

Meanwhile the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator warned against any change to free movement rules during a transition period after 2019.

Guy Verhofstadt said it would be “penalising citizens” to change rules for them while keeping the same rules on goods and services.

He added there would be a "crisis in British politics" and Theresa May could be ousted if the Brexit deal is voted down in Parliament - either in Westminster, Brussels or Strasbourg.

And Boris Johnson came under fire for failing the mention Ireland at all in a key Brexit speech last week.

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Irish politician Stephen Donnelly, of Fianna Fail, said: “In his 4,600 word speech he never mentioned Ireland. He never mentioned Northern Ireland. He never mentioned the border.

“It was insulting. It was reckless.”