Bromance blossoms as Jeremy Corbyn meets EU’s chief Brexit negotiator in Brussels

Labour leader gives Michel Barnier an Arsenal shirt and receives a French nationalised railway poster in return

Jeremy Corbyn has met with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator in Brussels, with the two leaders seeming to form a friendly relationship – in contrast with the apparent hostility between European officials and Tory government ministers that has developed in recent months.

The Labour leader presented Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister, with an Arsenal shirt with his name on the back. Mr Corbyn is a lifelong Arsenal fan and the club’s longstanding manager, Arsene Wenger, is French.

In return, Mr Barnier gave Mr Corbyn a vintage poster showing a snowy mountain scene in the Savoie region of the French Alps. The poster was produced by French national train company SNCF. Mr Corbyn has repeatedly called for Britain’s railways to be nationalised – a point recognised by Mr Barnier as he presented the gift.

Speaking before the meeting, the Labour leader vowed to fight for a Brexit that would protect jobs and workers.

“Labour is a government in waiting and we are ready to take up the responsibility for Brexit negotiations,” he said.

“Labour would negotiate a jobs-first Brexit deal which puts the economy, jobs and living standards front and centre. Labour would unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK because it’s the right thing to do.

He added his party “wants to work with other countries to build a different Europe, one which promotes human rights and environmental protections, celebrates the positive and complementary contributions of European nations, and where trade is fair and sustainable”.

“These are crucial negotiations for our country,” he said as he arrived at the European Commission building in Brussels to meet Mr Barnier.

“We are here to ensure that we protect jobs and living standards and to try to discover exactly what the views of the EU are on the whole process.”

The Labour leader was joined by Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit Secretary, and Diane Abbott, the shadow Home Secretary.

The talks are not formal discussions because the EU has made clear it will only negotiate with the UK Government.

Mr Barnier met with Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, and Carwyn Jones, Wales’ First Minister, earlier in the day.

Ms Sturgeon hailed a “useful and constructive meeting” and said she had emphasised her view that the UK should remain in the single market.

“I outlined to Mr Barnier that our priority is to protect Scotland’s vital economic interests and that the Scottish Government will do all it can to build a consensus against an extreme Brexit outside the single market, which would have potentially catastrophic consequences for jobs, investment and our living standards,” she said.

It comes as Labour set out six conditions for its support for the Government’s Repeal Bill, including concessions on workers’ rights, incorporating the European Charter of Fundamental Rights into UK law and limiting the Government’s ability to alter legislation without full parliamentary scrutiny.

The Government has said 1,000 changes to EU law could be made via statutory instruments – legal motions that do not necessarily require MPs’ approval.

Under so-called Henry VIII laws, dating from a 1539 law that allowed the Tudor monarch to issue new decrees, ministers have the power to make legal changes without a parliamentary vote.