Although Labour MPs have much to disagree with their leader on of late, one thing many have been buoyed by is the fact that Jeremy Corbyn appears to be softening the party’s Brexit position. The Labour leader’s big Brexit speech in February voicing support for some form of permanent customs union was widely seen as a step forward in uniting the two sides – and the result of lobbying from Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary.
Since then an uneasy truce has formed within the party over Brexit. Owen Smith was the first to break it – using an article to diverge from Labour policy and call for a referendum on the final Brexit deal. He was subsequently sacked from the front bench for breach of shadow cabinet collective responsibility. Now Barry Gardiner is the latest to stray from the party line – only he has gone the other way. In a recording obtained by Red Roar – the Labour blog – the shadow international trade secretary describes the Good Friday Agreement as ‘a shibboleth’ in Brexit negotiations and dismisses Starmer’s six Brexit tests as ‘meaningless’, at a private meeting of MEPs in Brussels last month.
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