Brexit: Jeremy Corbyn to visit Brussels for talks with EU negotiators

Labour leader expected to meet EU chiefs after they welcomed his proposals

(PA)

Jeremy Corbyn will visit Brussels next week for talks in a bid to circumvent the Brexit deadlock in Westminster.

The Labour leader is expected to meet EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier and European Parliament Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt.

The visit – far from Mr Corbyn’s first to the EU capital – comes after senior EU figures have spoken out to welcome Labour’s proposals for a softer Brexit than the one planned by Theresa May.

Mr Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand said earlier this week that Labour’s plans deserved to be examined, while European Council president Donald Tusk is said to have spoken well of the proposals in a private meeting with Theresa May.

Mr Verhofstadt also said he welcomed Mr Corbyn’s letter to the prime minister, which called for a cross-party compromise that included a customs union, close alignment with the single market, adherence to EU workers’ rights, and “shared institutions and obligations”.

Spokespeople for Mr Barnier, Mr Verhofstadt, and Mr Corbyn declined to comment on the record about the planned visit when approached by The Independent, but it is understood that the Labour leader will come to Brussels on Thursday. An exact itinerary is still said to be under discussion between the parties.

The Government has relentlessly focused on trying to get the EU to concede changes to the Northern Ireland backstop, which Brexiteer MPs are resolutely opposed to.

The European Union has however responded by saying it will not reopen the withdrawal agreement – but that the UK should change its red lines to build a closer future relationship with the EU that could avoid the backstop being triggered.

This has put Labour and Brussels on roughly the same page – with the opposition party’s proposals going down well in the EU capital.

Though the prime minister has held talks with other parties, including Labour, about a cross party way forward, they have yet to bear any fruit. The prime minister is reported to be sceptical about whether her MPs would back the sort of close future relationship Labour is demanding.

Mr Corbyn last visited Brussels in September, where he met with feared Commission official Martin Selmayr, as well as Mr Barnier.

The Labour leader was in the Belgian capital then to attend a naming ceremony for Place Jo Cox, a square named after the Labour MP murdered by a far-right extremist during the EU referendum campaign.