11:44

The Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable was on Radio 4 earlier urging Labour backbenchers to support an amendment to the EU repeal bill which would oblige the UK to remain within the single market and customs union after Brexit.

Cable told Today that while official Labour policy was “pretty ambiguous” their current stance – to leave the two arrangements but try to mimic their benefits outside – seemed very similar to that sought by the government.

Many Labour members and MPs took a different view, he said:

We know that large numbers of Labour backbenchers do support Britain remaining within the single market and the customs union and feel the government made a mistake by ruling that out, and we hope that a lot of those Labour people, and maybe even some Conservatives, will support it.

The Lib Dem amendment, due to be voted on tomorrow, seems unlikely to pass, but it’s a chance for Cable to remind voters of his party’s distinct Brexit stance.

