British Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn clashed in the House of Commons before their long-awaited meeting to discuss the way ahead on Brexit.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour leader repeatedly urged May to rule out a no-deal Brexit and to ditch her “red lines” in any upcoming talks with Brussels.
May hit back by saying that Corbyn “has no plan for Brexit”.
The pair will meet privately later to seek common ground on Brexit.
Corbyn agreed to the meeting after MPs voted against the idea of a no-deal Brexit on Tuesday evening. He had previously ruled out such a meeting unless May ruled out a no-deal Brexit herself.
At PMQs, he said the prime minister may have succeeded in “temporarily uniting her very divided party” in Tuesday’s votes on amendments to her plan but she had to make “more important compromises” to “unite the country”.
May said Corbyn was a “fine one to talk about coming together” when he had only now agreed to meet her.
She said the majority of MPs had identified the Irish backstop as the main sticking point preventing them from backing her deal, whereas Corbyn’s Brexit proposals had been rejected.
“He has no plan for Brexit, no good plan for our economy and no plan for our country,” she told MPs.
MPs voted 317 to 301 in favour of changing the backstop plan – the section of May’s deal with the EU designed to avoid the return of Northern Ireland border checks.
Five amendments, including Labour MP Yvette Cooper’s bid to delay Brexit if May does not get her deal through Parliament, were defeated on Tuesday.
Corbyn asked May whether, if she did not agree a deal with Brussels that MPs would support, she would back Labour’s proposals for a “a strong single market, comprehensive customs union and the guaranteeing of rights and protections rather than the alternative she has been threatening – to crash out with no-deal”.
May told him: “You cannot just vote to reject no deal, you have to support a deal.”
It was a message she repeated to Labour MP Jack Dromey, who together with Tory MP Caroline Spelman, got MPs to back a non-binding amendment rejecting a no-deal Brexit on Tuesday.
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