European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Leslie]

rose—

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

rose—

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I give way to my hon. Friend.

[Mike Amesbury]

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way. Does he agree that this Santa Claus letter of a deal offers no protection for workers’ rights, jobs, the environment or frictionless trade? Vote it down.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

My hon. Friend is right, because the deal does not ensure that if there are changes across the EU that improve workers’ rights and conditions, they are necessarily mirrored in this country. When the Prime Minister talks so grandly about workers’ rights in this country, what comes to my mind is a million people on zero-hours contracts; what comes to my mind is people trying to make ends meet by doing two or three jobs just to feed their children.

As I said, the Prime Minister states that the transition period ends in 2020. Article 132 actually says that it can be extended for up to two years, to December 2022. The Business Secretary is already clear that it is likely to be extended to that period, and under this bad deal we would have to pay whatever the EU demands to extend it for those two years.