Britain’s main Opposition Labour Party must commit to staying in the European Union (EU)’s single market after Brexit and put an end to Prime Minister Theresa May’s “destructive Brexit”, several of its lawmakers said on Sunday.
At the beginning of the party’s annual conference, Labour lawmakers and trade union leaders wrote an open letter to their leader, calling on Jeremy Corbyn to “go further” than his current position to press for being part of the single market during any transition after Britain leaves in March 2019.
After months of sticking to a position little different from the governing Conservative Party’s pursuit of a clean break with the EU, Labour changed tack last month by saying, if in power, the party would press for full access to the single market during a transition — something that could continue beyond. “We have watched with dismay as the government has used a narrow referendum result to justify an extreme approach to Brexit,” the lawmakers said in a letter published in Britain’s Observer newspaper.
“So at our conference this week, Labour should commit to staying in the Single Market and Customs Union ruling out no options for how to achieve this.”
Mr. Corbyn, who says he is preparing for government, told the BBC he was listening to those members of the Labour Party who want to keep the closest possible ties with the EU, but he did not say whether he would change the party’s policy.