Brexit SABOTAGE: Tory MPs in talks with Labour about keeping free movement
A GAGGLE of Conservative MPs are in talks with Labour about keeping Britain locked into accepting free movement after the UK leaves the EU.
As many as 15 Tories could support a plan to keep the UK entangled in the European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit, which in turn would mean accepting migrants from across the Brussels bloc.
It comes after the Government published the Great Repeal Bill, which will repatriate powers from Brussels to Britain after the UK formally leaves the bloc in March 2019.
The move means all existing institutions will be replaced by British alternatives so that the nation no longer remains under the thumb of EU case law. Legislation will then be able to changed as the British Government sees fit, most likely with the permission of MPs.
The move was slammed by the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, with Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones labelling the move as a “naked power grab” by the British government as it does not give the powers to devolved administrations.
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said he was hoping to form a coalition with Tory MPs to keep Britain in the EEA for an unspecified “time-bound period”.
He told the Telegraph: “I have been reaching out with a particular proposal to 15 Conservative MPs so far.”
He added that there were “positive conversations on engaging around a number of issues, particularly the transitional deal and what that might look like”.
Mr Kinnock continued: “There is a growing recognition now in the economy… that getting the right transitional deal is now the top priority.
“What we need to do is to form a coalition of common sense to secure in particular a sensible pragmatic transition deal which in my opinion should be based on the EEA.
“It is a sensible half way house to give our economy the certainty it so desperately needs.”
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Eurosceptic Tory MP Sir Bill Cash slammed the move, claiming the EEA was “not the right model” to follow.
Jeremy Corbyn and shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would not support the Repeal Bill in its current form.
The pair demanded that the charter must be full incorporated into UK law, ensuring Britain’s worker rights match the EU’s and demanding a change to the so-called ‘Henry VII powers’, which gives the Government the power to change legislation without full Parliamentary scrutiny.
Mr Corbyn said: “We would not allow the archaic process that the government seems to be embracing with the Henry VIII clause that essentially allow executive control to override parliamentary democracy.
“The Government does not have a majority in Parliament, it does not have a mandate to do what it likes in parliament. Parliament must be consulted and be able to decide on these issues.”