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Labour’s Keir Starmer today vows to block Theresa May ’s plans for an extreme Brexit .

The Shadow Brexit Secretary moved to reassure Labour rebels by promising to push for a Commons vote to prevent the Prime Minister from walking away without a deal.

Mr Starmer also gives his strongest backing to date for the UK to stay in the customs union.

His comments came after 49 Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn by voting to keep Britain in the single market and the customs union.

In an interview with the Mirror, Mr Starmer said Labour will work with other parties to demand a transition arrangement - extending the talks beyond the March 2019 deadline - that will keep us in the EU for at least two more years.

(Image: PA)

He claimed Mrs May and Brexit Secretary David Davis needed to accept the General Election result meant their plans for an “extreme Brexit” with no transition agreement was now “off the table.”

Setting the scene for a Commons battle in the Autumn, Mr Starmer warned Labour would push for a vote on extending the Brexit negotiations.

This would cause a major headache for Mrs May with many hardline Tory Brexiteers opposed to any transition agreement.

It would also pull the rug from under the Prime Minister’s threat to walk away from the talks if the UK cannot get a good deal.

(Image: AFP)

“I would like Parliament to be discussing transitional measures and having a real say on it early on,” Mr Starmer said.

He added: “I think that we have to accept the final deal will not be agreed by March 2019. Therefore to avoid a cliff edge we have to have transitional measures and we have to accept that pretty early on and by that I mean later this year.

“We need to agree it early one because, one, we need to give some shape to the transitional arrangement and, two, businesses and working people are very anxious about not knowing what is going to happen in a year or so’s time,” he said.

On Thursday Mr Corbyn sacked three frontbenchers after they defied the whip to vote to stay in the single market and the customs union.

In a olive branch to the rebels ,Mr Starmer gave his strongest endorsement to date for the UK to stay in the Customs Union but made clear the UK was likely to have to strike a new deal on the single market.

And he insisted Labour had gone into the election with the right position on Brexit .

He said the alternative, full support for Remain or Leave, could have “broken” the party.

“You can see not only did that position hold for us during the election - and it could have broken the Labour Party - but now people are coming towards our position and we are winning even more ground and that’s really important given the current make up of Parliament,” he said.

Mr Starmer said there are “huge protections” that came with the customs union and it should “certainly” be on the table in the negotiations.

In regard to the single market he wanted the best possible access but warned this would see taxpayers have to pay a substantial sum to Brussels in return for access to the single market.

Although he insisted this would be less than the £13billion we contribute, it could anger voters who backed leave on the grounds it promised to spend £350million a week to the NHS.

(Image: PA)

“If we are to get good access to single market we will have to pay in. The public would certainly want to see the sum we currently pay in come down. I think everybody would negotiate from that basis.

“It is inevitable we will have to pay in something and any country negotiating, and that would include the UK, will want to keep that to a minimum but there is a balance to be struck between the level of access and the amount we might have to pay in,” he said.

He also blasted International Trade Secretary Liam Fox for saying we could strike better trade agreements once we leave the EU.

“This untested thesis that Liam Fox and others are running that somehow there are a number of free trade agreements simply waiting to be had.

“So far as the countries they have identified so far, very little of our trade is with those countries, there is no suggestion they are lining up to do meaningful free trade agreements with us and the whole proposition is uncosted, un risk assessed and untested,” he said.

He added: “They are looking back to the 1950s rather than forward to the 2020s and 2030s.”

The Shadow Brexit Secretary was also withering about Mrs May’s negotiating stance.

“To date she (May) has got the tone and approach completely wrong she has come across as belligerent and hostile and it has been received in that way.

“She has alienated people who would otherwise have been our allies and weakened our relations with the EU.

“All the rhetoric of ‘you need us more than we need you’ has gone down very badly and it is not the rhetoric that helps set up constructive set of talks, nor has it actually delivered,” he said.

By contrast, he noted Chancellor Philip Hammond was speaking the same language as Labour on transitional measures, managed migration and putting jobs and prosperity first.