Theresa May dismisses Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit ‘shambles’ claim

THERESA May has rejected a claim by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that she is overseeing a “shambolic Tory Brexit”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions she said she wanted “maximum possible access” for the United Kingdom to the single market after leaving the European Union, BBC revealed.
Mr Corbyn said the government had “no answers”, but Mrs May promised to be “ambitious” in Brexit negotiations and to exert greater migration control.
MPs are now debating a Labour motion on Parliament’s role in Brexit policy.
The party is calling for “proper scrutiny” by Parliament of discussions ahead of the government starting negotiations with the EU.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said: “The premise on which we are advancing is that we will have proper scrutiny. But it is not one where we will allow anyone to veto the decision of the British people.”
The subject of Brexit dominated the first Prime Minister’s Questions since the end of the party conference season, with Mr Corbyn asking: “Is the prime minister really willing to risk a shambolic Tory Brexit just to appease the people behind her (Conservative backbench MPs)?”
Mrs May replied: “We will negotiate the right deal for the UK. That’s what matters to everyone in the UK and that’s what we will deliver.”
She told MPs any deal would aim for “maximum possible access to the single market”, but added she was “absolutely clear that the British people” wanted “maximum control” over immigration.
The Labour leader accused the government of having “no answers” and said it should stop “running away from the looming threat” to jobs and living standards.
Ministers are facing calls to set out details on what they want Brexit to look like before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the two-year process of working out the terms of the UK leaving the EU.
Ahead of the Brexit debate Labour set out 170 questions for the government, including on trading relationships and migration rules.
Some senior politicians – including former Labour leader Ed Miliband – are demanding a full vote on the UK’s negotiating stance ahead of full discussions with the EU beginning.
But the government says it does not want to have its hands tied before talks, and some argue a vote could be used as a way of undermining the result of June’s referendum, in which voters chose by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU.
Labour’s Commons motion falls short of specifically asking for a full vote on the UK’s Brexit negotiating stance. Instead, it asks for a “full and transparent” debate on the plan for leaving the organisation and for Prime Minister Theresa May “to ensure that this House is able properly to scrutinise that plan… before Article 50 is invoked”.
The government has tabled an amendment to the motion – which Labour has accepted – stating that negotiations for Brexit must be handled in a way that “respects the decision” reached in the referendum.
Labour’s decision to agree to the government amendment means there might not be a vote at the end of Wednesday’s debate.