“We can do better” - Labour’s Northern Ireland spokesman calls for permanent Customs Union

“We can do better” - Labour’s Northern Ireland spokesman calls for permanent Customs Union
By Euronews
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Tony Lloyd accuses May of putting party interests ahead of the country.

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Labour’s Northern Ireland spokesman has told Euronews a permanent customs union is the only solution to Britain’s Brexit dilemma.

Tony Lloyd said Theresa May had patched together a deal to meet the needs of her party rather than the needs of the country. And he said the gap between the proposal and Britain’s best interests was “enormous”.

“We can do better,” Mr Lloyd told Good Morning Europe. “If Britain and Northern Ireland go into a permanent customs union with the European Union. That guarantees that the kind of frictionless trade that keeps both goods and, if we get the single market relationship right, services flowing in every direction. That’s good for Northern Ireland and it’s good for the European Union. And actually it’s better for my constituents in England.”

“We’re not looking for concessions, a little tweak here, a little twist there. The gap between what Theresa May has brought back and what the UK needs is enormous.

“There’s a huge majority of MPs in the UK parliament who will vote against a hard or no deal Brexit. It’s simply not in the interests of the United Kingdom, it’s not in the interests of the European Union.

“The problem ... is that the British Prime Minister wanted to negotiate on the basis of keeping her massively divided party together. She can’t do that because they can’t agree amongst themselves. We can’t help the Prime Minister solve her problems with the Conservative party but we can help her solve the problems of the United Kingdom.”

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