BREXITEER Boris Johnson hit out at the Government for working with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to come to a Brexit agreement – insisting that the party leader's “toxic” plans would force the UK to remain in the EU.
During a speech at the Henry Jackson Society, the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson rejected the idea that Prime Minister Theresa May should consider Jeremy Corbyn’s “toxic” Brexit proposal.
The Tory Brexiteer insisted that Mr Corbyn’s plan would force the UK to remain in the single market and customs union, not unlike remaining in the European Union.
During his speech, Mr Johnson said: “I don’t think there is any mileage for Theresa May or the Government in trying to a do a deal with Labour.
“Labour will just try to trap Theresa May.
“They will just try to do a deal that is toxic and has disastrous effects for the Conservative Party.
“Worse still, of course, Jeremy Corbyn’s proposal would keep us locked in the customs union and locked into the single market forever.
“Therefore Brexit, the promise that was made to the British people of coming out of the EU institutions would be broken.
Boris Johnson shot down Jeremy Corbyn's soft Brexit plan during his speech (Image: Dailymail/getty)
“If you are going to stay in the customs union and the single market and you are going to have people around the table in Brussels, there's a name for that.
“It’s called being in the EU.
“If Corbyn wants to do that, that isn’t the way forward.
“On your point about the deadline and could we have a time limit, I think it must be pretty obvious that if you are going to have a time limit to the backstop and I think that would be a very good thing.
“It has got to fall before the next election.
“There's no point having a time limit to the backstop some years after the next general election.
“And as I say there has got to be a way in which the UK can come out unilaterally”
Theresa May has also hit back at Mr Corbyn’s demands for a soft Brexit through her criticisms of the Labour leaders plan.
The Prime Minister said she was “not clear” why the Labour leader was pushing for a continued customs union which would block Britain from striking its own trade deals.
And she questioned whether Mr Corbyn’s call for "frictionless" trade would mean remaining in the single market and reneging on Labour's commitment to end free movement.
But Mrs May did say she was pleased to see Labour agreed the UK should leave the EU with a deal.
