A Tory rebellion over Brexit gathered momentum today as Jeremy Corbyn committed Labour to campaign for Britain to remain in a pro-trade customs union with the EU.
Two more Conservative MPs signalled they were ready to defy Theresa May by voting for an amendment put down by former business minister Anna Soubry ordering ministers to negotiate a frictionless trade deal.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Stafford Tory MP Jeremy Lefroy vowed to stand up against “damage” to jobs in his manufacturing constituency, while Eddisbury MP Antoinette Sandbach called for “a pragmatic approach to Brexit and not an ideological one”.
In a keynote policy change this morning, Labour leader Mr Corbyn urged MPs across the Commons to unite behind a customs union.
“I appeal to MPs of all parties prepared to put the people’s interests before ideological fantasies to join us in supporting the option of a new UK customs union with the EU that would give us a say in future trade deals,” he said in a speech.
Mr Corbyn said he would “not countenance” any deal that left Britain as “a passive recipient” of rules set by the EU.
Speaking in Coventry, he said: “Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.
“But we are also clear that the option of a new UK customs union with the EU would need to ensure the UK has a say in future trade deals.”
He argued that independent trade deals with China and other countries would not “compensate for a significant loss of trade” with the EU.
Brexit Secretary David Davis attacked Mr Corbyn in a tweet saying: “Labour’s latest Brexit policy breaks their manifesto promises to voters. No new ability to strike trade deals, no control over trade remedies.”
Mrs May said she was open to a customs arrangement or union with the EU in her Lancaster House speech.
However, the option was omitted from a paper last summer that put forward different plans. Mr Corbyn also repeated his pledge to end freedom of movement after Brexit. But he ruled out “bogus immigration targets”, such as the Government’s 100,000 ceiling.
With Tory divisions opening wider, two former ministers condemned briefings from Mrs May’s supporters suggesting the Government would collapse if MPs defied the whips to back a customs union.
Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said claims that it would become a confidence motion “unnecessarily raises the temperature”. Former skills minister Nicholas Boles tweeted: “All the feverish chatter about the Government falling if it loses the vote on the customs union is nonsense. The government will only fall if the DUP, or enough Tory MPs, decide they want it to.”
The DUP today warned Brussels not to “renege” on a deal struck in December to avoid a hard border. It followed reports that Brussels was pushing for the border to be moved to the Irish Sea.