Cross-party Brexit talks to continue despite anger over Theresa May’s customs union plan
Cross-party Brexit talks are set to enter a crucial phase tomorrow despite growing mistrust and a potential revolt from Conservative MPs.
The Prime Minister will resume discussions with Labour today but is set to face anger on all sides over her last-ditch plan to win over Jeremy Corbyn with a temporary customs union.
Read more: May calls on Labour to 'put differences aside' on Brexit
Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he had no trust in the Prime Minister after details of the talks were leaked to the press, describing the leak as an “act of bad faith.”
Speaking to the BBC yesterday he said Theresa May had “jeopardised the negotiations for her own personal protection.”
It comes after reports over the bank holiday weekend that May would offer Jeremy Corbyn a temporary customs union with the EU lasting until the next general election.
McDonnell added: “We are dealing with a very unstable government. It’s [like] trying to enter into a contract with a firm going into administration.”
The Prime Minister’s efforts to win over Labour MPs could also face fierce opposition from within her own party.
Brexiter Nigel Evans, a member of the influential backbench 1922 Committee said: “If there is a compromise that turns out to be a kind of ‘Brexit in name only’ involving anything close to a customs union, there would be more than 100 Tory MPs who would never support it.”
Read more: May and Corbyn vow to break Brexit deadlock after huge local elections blow
May conceded that many of her colleagues found the decision to compromise with Labour “uncomfortable.”
“Frankly it is not what I wanted either. But as elected politicians, who asked the public to give us an instruction on whether to leave the EU, we cannot now shrug our shoulders and say it’s all too difficult,” she wrote in the Mail on Sunday.