Jeremy corbyn

For months, Labour has been moving ever closer to the Tory position on Brexit while pretending that it isn’t. First, it backed Brexit. Then in June, John McDonnell told Robert Peston that he couldn’t see continued membership of the single market being ‘on the table’ in Brexit negotiations. He added that people would interpret membership of the single market as ‘not respecting that referendum.’ In July, Jeremy Corbyn told Andrew Marr that single market membership is ‘dependent on membership of the EU.’ Barry Gardiner has even suggested that the UK would become a ‘vassal state’ if it were to remain in the single market after Brexit. Today, Sir Keir Starmer writes in the Observer that, unlike Liam Fox and Philip Hammond,

It’s safe to say that Chris Williamson is not the most popular MP in his party right now, after the Labour frontbencher suggested women-only carriages were a good idea – in order to stop women falling victim to sexual assault on public transport. Since then, several Labour MPs have criticised his comments – with Jess Phillips suggesting Williamson was taking tips on feminism from Saudi Arabia. Now one resident of the Palace of Westminster has taken matters into their own hands. A notice has been placed on the door of Williamson’s office in response to his suggestion: ‘Woman? Sexually harassed at work? How about working on your own floor?’ Commons source sent

Ever since the snap election, Jeremy Corbyn has been in campaign mode – claiming Theresa May’s minority government is on the verge of collapse and that there will be another election within months. Tomorrow, the Labour leader kicks off a summer tour of Scotland, which he claims ‘holds the keys’ to getting his party back in power: ‘We have stayed on an election footing all summer, and nowhere is more important to delivering another Labour government than Scotland. The only way to deliver the truly radical change that Scotland needs is to back Labour in Scotland.’ Much to the upset of the Nats, the 18 seats Corbyn will be targeting

Would a Labour government take Britain out of the customs union after Brexit? It’s a simple enough question – but not it seems if you’re the shadow international trade minister, Bill Esterson. The Labour MP has been busy touring the airwaves this morning, criticising the government for its Brexit transition period plans. While Esterson is quick to find fault with the Tory approach, he is less keen to answer questions on what the plan would be if Jeremy Corbyn made it to Downing Street. On the Today programme, he refused repeatedly to say where Labour stood on the issue: Justin Webb: …does that mean being in the customs union or out? Bill

When you tweet as often as I do, you learn to take the rough with the smooth. Even though it has led to death threats (dealt with by the police) I overwhelmingly enjoy it. I like the immediacy of it and I like the interaction. Best of all, I learn from it. And yesterday I learned something loud and clear. To be accurate, I had something confirmed that I and many others have long thought: that, at least on social media, much of the support for Jeremy Corbyn is akin to a cult, with the Labour leader worshipped as a god-like creature who cannot be criticised. Yesterday morning, I read

Home British negotiators are prepared to pay up to £36 billion to the EU to settle the so-called divorce bill for Brexit, according to the Sunday Telegraph. By voting for Brexit, ‘the old have comprehensively shafted the young’, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable, aged 74, wrote in the Mail on Sunday, ‘imposing a world view coloured by nostalgia for an imperial past on a younger generation much more comfortable with modern Europe.’ Lord Neuberger, who will retire as president of the Supreme Court next month, said that the government should ‘express clearly what the judges should do about decisions of the European Court of Justice after

Mark Carney is often accused of being downbeat about Brexit. But the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report is ‘more sanguine than one might expect’, says the FT. The paper points out that despite a cut in the country’s growth forecast, the Bank ‘expects stronger net trade and business investment to drive a recovery in 2019’. Yet Carney remained ‘candid’ about the damage Brexit is already doing to Britain’s economy. Businesses are investing less, reports the FT, and ‘this has uncomfortable implications’. With the Bank warning that ‘the level of investment in the UK economy (will be) be 20 percentage points lower in 2020 than it forecast before the referendum’,

Jeremy Corbyn might be ‘on a high’ but he shouldn’t be allowed to forget his party’s ‘highly inconsistent, profoundly confusing’ position on the issue of the day: Brexit. Labour’s stance became yet more tangled yesterday, says the Daily Telegraph, with Keir Starmer saying the party wanted to keep Britain in the single market – ‘only 10 days ago Jeremy Corbyn said the opposite,’ points out the paper. It’s time for the Tories to take the fight to Labour, says the Telegraph, which argues that while ‘young voters, have been motivated and energised’ by Corbyn this doesn’t mean they should be allowed to get away with such a contrary position on Brexit.

Oh dear. We’re one day into August – also known as ‘silly season’ – and Cat Smith has stepped up to the plate so journalists don’t have to. The shadow minister for voter engagement and youth affairs has penned a blog for the Huffington Post in which she makes the case for lowering the voting age to sixteen. Her argument? If you’re 16-years-old you can have sexual intercourse with your MP… but you can’t vote for them: At 16 you can have sex with your MP – but you can't vote for them! My latest blog @HuffPostUK https://t.co/SVEe3t5i0H — Cat Smith MP (@CatSmithMP) July 31, 2017 Putting aside whether this is