Theresa May calls for Brexit talks with Jeremy Corbyn
Theresa May has offered to enter talks with Jeremy Corbyn to break the logjam over Brexit and let parliament decide a binding way forward if they fail to find a compromise.
In a significant shift, May said she would request an extension to leaving the European Union and opened the door to accepting a softer Brexit, with No 10 not ruling out accepting either a customs union or a second referendum.
The prime minister extended the offer in a televised statement from Downing Street following a seven-hour cabinet meeting, saying: We can and must find the compromises to deliver what the British people voted for”. She said there would ideally be a deal with Labour or a decision from parliament to put before the EU next Wednesday in order to allow the UK to leave on 22 May and avoid European parliament elections.
The overture to Corbyn prompted a furious backlash from Conservative Eurosceptics, including Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Iain Duncan Smith, with some MPs privately threatening fresh attempts to remove May if she did a deal with Labour. The prime minister was also accused of overriding a majority in cabinet who suggested they would prefer a no-deal Brexit to the possibility of a long extension to article 50. [Continue reading…]