Brexit news - Labour peer slapped down in Brexit clash with BBC host Emma Barnett
Baroness Angela Smith criticised Theresa May and the Conservatives for promising to pull Britain out of the single market and customs union after Brexit. BBC host Emma Barnett quickly snapped back at the leader of the opposition in the House of Lords, after Jeremy Corbyn made a similar pledge in the lead up to the election. Speaking on Westminster Hour, Barnett asked whether the Labour Party could give the country the same clarity as the Conservatives over Brexit after Philip Hammond and Liam Fox outlined the UK’s plans. Ms Smith said: “Well I am not sure the Government has given the clarity.
C4NEWS•SKYNEWS Emma Barnett ripped into the Labour peer after Baroness Smith branded Theresa May as 'irresponsible'
“What the Government has given us is a negotiating position, I found the article quite confusing in some ways. “I am not sure what a transition looks like if from day one of that transition you rule out the single market and the customs union. “Where’s the transition? Because you are saying, ‘we are out of them and we are going to have a transition’. “I would have thought we would start this transition saying, ‘that is the position we have got now, negotiate from where we are now’.
But Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out the single market. He said so Emma Barnett
“Theresa May is completely wrong to rule out the single market and customs union before negotiations even start.” The BBC presenter was quick to remind the Labour peer that the Labour Party leader had a similar position to the Prime Minister in the lead up to the June election. She interjected: “But Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out the single market. He said so. “He said if we are leaving the European Union we are leaving the single market, that was one of the clearest statements.” The Labour peer sidestepped the question as she quickly branded the Prime Minister as “irresponsible”. She added: “That is a statement of fact. But one of the things that happened is our benefits we have gained as a country being in the single market and the customs union as part of our membership of the EU has benefited the country enormously.
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