Together at last. Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May are to meet, a deux, this afternoon to find a compromise on the withdrawal agreement. Hugely risky for both leaders. Last Wednesday, May called Corbyn ‘the biggest threat to our standing in the world.’ This week she wants him to help her write an international treaty. At PMQs, the Brexit lovebirds prepared for their tryst with a little ritualistic biting and pecking. The intention was to exhibit strength rather than to injure or kill.
Corbyn blamed the Tories for impoverishing millions of citizens, and he praised ‘the last Labour government’ for introducing SureStart and ‘halving child poverty’.
May shot back: ‘I didn’t know he was such a fan of the last Labour government.’
Both wanted their negotiating positions kept secret. But the House wouldn’t stand for it. Owen Smith itemised Labour’s demands: customs union, single market, people’s vote.
And if she signs up to all three, he said, she can toddle off into the sunset.
Stewart Hosie, of the SNP, exposed the murky core of the Lab-Con pact.
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