Jeremy Corbyn is certain he would get a Brexit extension should he win the general election, batting off concerns from Jean-Claude Juncker that Labour's plan is "unrealistic".

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, the Labour leader said he was confident that he would get an extension as he revealed he had been in talks with Michel Barnier and EU leaders about his plan.

Mr Corbyn, on the campaign trail in Telford, said: "I am very clear that an incoming government will get the time necessary to negotiate, will get that extension."

He said he had discussed this with "many officials" in the EU and heads of government of the member states, as well as Mr Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator.

Corbyn hits back at Rees-Mogg's Grenfell comments

It comes after Mr Juncker, the outgoing president of the European Commission, said he didn't think Mr Corbyn's approach was viable.


"Honestly speaking, I don't think this is a realistic approach," he said in an interview with the BBC, adding that this would be an issue for his successor Ursula von der Leyen to decide whether a new deal can be struck with Labour if it wins the election on 12 December.

But Mr Corbyn dismissed this assessment, saying: "We will go straight to the EU, straight after the election and start those discussions.

"I have explained to European heads of government, as well as to the EU, exactly what our policy and our strategy is."

The Labour leader added: "I think we will get the deal that we need together."

Mr Corbyn, who has already been to 14 constituencies since the election was announced last week, also told Sky News he fully intended to serve a full term as prime minister if he is elected in December, saying that being 75 was not a barrier to holding the highest office of state.

"Yes, of course," he said when asked if he would serve all five years in Number 10.

"I'm fit and healthy and I'll get on with it."

As for what happens if he doesn't win, Mr Corbyn refused to say whether he intended to stand down, despite the shadow chancellor John McDonnell saying that both would if they lost a second general election.

"John McDonnell got enticed into areas of discussion that I'm not prepared to get enticed into," he said.

Mr Corbyn goes into this election with the worst personal poll ratings of any opposition leader in more than 40 years.

But he has insisted that the election isn't about him but the wider Labour movement - and told Sky News that he didn't particularly follow poll ratings.

Mr Corbyn said: "I go out there and campaign with our candidates, with our party members and engage in discussions with people and I don't respond to personal attacks on me, of which there have been many, because I don't think the public are interested in personal attacks between politicians.

"I think the public are more interested in the policies that we have to put forward. That's what I'm doing."

The Brexit Election: For the fastest results service and in-depth analysis watch Sky News live from 9pm on Thursday 12 December, with a KayBurley@breakfast election special on Friday 13 December