"Ditch the red lines" on Brexit for negotiations: UK Opp leader to PM May

Stepping up his attack on British Prime Minister Theresa May, who narrowly survived a no-confidence vote, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Thursday demanded that she must "ditch the red lines" on Brexit for any serious negotiations after MPs rejected the divorce deal she had struck with the EU.

Corbyn, the leader of the opposition, made the remarks a hours after embattled May saw off a bid to remove her government from power by 325 to 306 votes. The vote came a day after her plan for leaving the European Union was overwhelmingly rejected by the MPs.

May is meeting MPs to try to find a way forward for Brexit. But Corbyn has refused to join talks unless the threat of a no-deal exit was ruled out.

 

Corbyn said he was "quite happy" to talk with May, but she had to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Britain is set to exit the 28-member EU, which it joined in 1973, on March 29. With just over two months to go until the scheduled departure, Britain is still undecided on what to do.

Corbyn urged Prime Minister May to "ditch the red lines" and "get serious about proposals for the future".

"We are firmly of the opinion that the starting point for any talks about how to break the Brexit deadlock must be that the threat of a disastrous 'no deal' outcome is ruled out," Corbyn said in a statement.

He said that was the position of the Labour Party in 2017 and reflected in its manifesto.

"If you are serious about reaching a deal, then 'no deal' must be ruled out," he said in a follow-up to his remarks in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

He said: "With no-deal on the table, the prime minister will enter into phony talks just to run down the clock and try to blackmail MPs to vote through her botched deal on a second attempt by threatening the country with the chaos that no-deal would bring."

Corbyn maintained that the "best outcome" was to call a general election to "break the deadlock".

Prime Minister May is to publish her new plan on EU withdrawal to Parliament on Monday, with a full debate and the key vote on it scheduled for January 29, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, Corbyn has been criticised by former prime minister Tony Blair after the Labour leader rejected an invitation from May to take part in talks to break the Brexit impasse.