Could Britain remain in the Customs Union after Brexit? That is the question of the moment, the issue that currently troubles a lot of people in politics and government. It raises another question: who will decide whether we do indeed remain in the Customs Union? Here’s an interesting answer being given, in whispers, around Westminster and Whitehall: Seumas Milne.
The theory goes like this: the Tories are split on the CU, so Labour’s position on it will be decisive. If Jeremy Corbyn brings Labour in behind the pro-CU Tories (and the SNP) then there is a comfortable majority for staying in, no matter what either Theresa May, or the DUP might have to say about it. Hence there is a huge interest in Labour’s position, in Brussels and Whitehall and elsewhere. And hence Corbyn’s recent hints about the Labour position have raised hopes that he may be about to abandon the deliberate ambiguity on Brexit that has served the party quite well for several months now.
On Monday, Corbyn said “we have to have a customs union” which, as students of the tedious language of Brexitology know, is not the same thing as the Customs Union.
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