Labour MPs have called on Jeremy Corbyn to adopt a clearer stance on the single market and free movement in Europe before Theresa May’s speech on Brexit.

At a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday, MPs voiced fears that the party was being let down by its communication strategy, a week after Corbyn said Labour was not wedded to the principle of free movement.

Corbyn told the MPs the party would have a clear message in response to the prime minister’s speech, saying Labour would fight any attempt to make the UK “a bargain basement economy off the coast of Europe”.

At the weekend the chancellor, Philip Hammond, suggested the UK could “change our economic model” to a low-tax, low-regulation system if the EU refused the UK any access to the single market.



Corbyn told the meeting this was a dangerous and reckless approach and May and the government were pushing towards the exact kind of Brexit Britain that most people did not want, a spokesman said.

The Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw was one of those who called for clarity on the party’s position on the single market. May is expected to say on Tuesday that the UK will not seek any new relationship that means the country is “half-in, half-out”.

One Labour MP said concerns had been raised at the meeting about messaging, including the row after prime minister’s questions when a Corbyn spokesman appeared to cast doubt on the leader’s support for a Nato troop presence in Estonia.

Another MP described the packed meeting, attending by both MPs and peers, as “subdued rather than combative” towards Corbyn. “We were asking for clear messages on immigration, Europe and other various spur of the moment policies.”

Corbyn made clear that the party had softened its position on nuclear power, after meeting Labour members in Copeland, Cumbria, on Sunday where one of the key industries is the Sellafield nuclear power plant.

The party is facing two tough byelections, in Copeland and Stoke-on-Trent. Corbyn announced that the veteran Labour MP Jack Dromey would run the campaign in Stoke Central.

Corbyn’s spokesman said the leader was confident the party could hold both seats. “In both constituencies we will make the case for a completely different kind of economic policy in the country that will benefit those areas, after the Conservative strategy has failed to deliver,” he said.

