Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit speech - as it happened: Labour leader backs UK membership of a customs union after leaving EU

Here are the written ministerial statements due to be made in the House of Commons today:

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Energy

Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union - General Affairs Council, February 27 2018

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government - Local Government Policy

Jeremy Corbyn is now up - after being introduced by the Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey. 

He says next month the Government will embark on the next phase of the negotiations - 20 months on from the referendum. 

"But the country is still in the dark over what this divided Conservative Government want," he says. 

Corbyn says the truth is we don't know much about where the Government is heading in the negotiations. He says Labour's message has been consistent: "We respect the result of the referendum". 

Corbyn says the economy has already been damaged by 8 years of Conservative austerity. "The Conservatives have been found out," he says. "They have no economic plan and no plan for Brexit".

Now for the main part of the Labour leader's speech - he says he wants to set out the party's approach to Brexit in more detail. 

"How we would do things differently, what our priorities are for the Brexit negotiations and the values that underpin them.

"The first is our overriding mission: that whatever is negotiated must put people’s jobs and living standards first. The Brexit process must not leave our people and country worse off.

"We are committed to building a more prosperous and a more equal Britain, in which every region benefits and no community is left behind, as we set out in our manifesto. And that is what underpins our approach to Brexit." 

"The second is unity. Most people in our country, regardless of whether they voted leave of remain want better jobs, more investment, stronger rights and greater equality.

"No one should be willing to sacrifice the Good Friday Agreement, the basis for 20 years of relative peace, development and respect for diversity in Northern Ireland."

"The third is our global perspective. We are leaving the European Union but we are not leaving Europe. We are not throwing up protectionist barriers, closing the borders and barricading ourselves in. And we want a close and cooperative relationship with the whole of Europe after Brexit."

"And Britain will need a bespoke, negotiated relationship of its own.

"During the transition period, Labour would seek to remain in a customs union with the EU and within the single market. That means we would abide by the existing rules of both.

"That is so the government, businesses and workers only have to make one adjustment, from the current situation to the final terms.

"Labour spelled out the need for a stable transition period last summer. Both the TUC and CBI agree. We thought the government had accepted that case but they now seem to be in disarray on the issue again."

On *a customs union*, he says:

"We have long argued that a customs union is a viable option for the final deal. So Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.

"But we are also clear that the option of a new UK customs union with the EU would need to ensure the UK has a say in future trade deals.

"A new customs arrangement would depend on Britain being able to negotiate agreement of new trade deals in our national interest.

"Labour would not countenance a deal that left Britain as a passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others. That would mean ending up as mere rule takers.

"In contrast the Conservative government has moved from saying it wanted trade with the EU after Brexit to be “tariff-free” to saying it wants trade to be “as tariff-free as possible”."

"Labour would negotiate a new and strong relationship with the single market that includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections.

"That new relationship would need to ensure we can deliver our ambitious economic programme, take the essential steps to intervene, upgrade and transform our economy and build an economy for the 21st century that works for the many, not the few.

Corbyn he says it was alarming that after the Brexit vote there was a clear rise in xenophobic and racist attacks on the streets. 

On immigration, he says: "The referendum campaign was divisive and some politicians on the Leave side whipped up fears and division in order to further their cause that built on the shameful vans telling immigrants to ‘Go Home’  that the then Home Secretary instructed to trundle round the country stirring up division.

"I remember just after the referendum result receiving a text from a young person in my constituency who had been subjected to abuse in the street for the first time and who was afraid.

"Our immigration system will change and freedom of movement will as a statement of fact end when we leave the European Union.

"But we have also said that in trade negotiations our priorities are growth, jobs and people’s living standards. We make no apologies for putting those aims before bogus immigration targets.

"Labour would design our immigration policy around the needs of the economy based on fair rules and the reasonable management of migration."

We would not do what this government is doing, start from rigid red lines on immigration and then work out what that means for the economy afterwards.