John McDonnell Says Theresa May Can Not Be Trusted Over Brexit Talks

Shadow chancellor says PM has 'blown the confidentiality' of cross-party negotiations.
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John McDonnell has said he does not trust Theresa May, as he accused her of jeopardising the cross-party Brexit talks for her own “personal protection”.

According to The Sunday Times, the prime minister is preparing to give ground this week in the discussions, the shadow chancellor said she had “blown the confidentiality” of the talks.

He said his party wanted to get a deal done “as soon as possible” but needed guarantees that an agreement would not be “ripped up” by a future Conservative leader.

May urged Labour to put his differences with her aside, while International Development Secretary Rory Stewart said the ball was in Jeremy Corbyn’s court.

Stewart told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “I think a deal can be done, a lot of this rests on, to be honest, one man: whether Jeremy Corbyn really wants to deliver a Brexit deal.

“But I think if he wants to do it it will be actually surprisingly easy to do because our positions are very, very close.”

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Asked on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show if he trusted May, Mcdonnell replied: “No, sorry, not after this weekend when she’s blown the confidentiality I had and I actually think she’s jeopardised the negotiations for her own personal protection.”

He accused May of acting in “bad faith” after the Sunday Times reported that the PM would put forward plans for a comprehensive but temporary customs arrangement with the EU that would last until the next general election.

And he said: “We are negotiating with Theresa May’s team as requested. Whilst we’re doing that and we think we’re gaining an understanding of our different positions and where we can reach some compromise, in the wings, if you like, are all the leadership candidates virtually threatening to tear up whatever deal that we do.

“So we’re dealing with a very unstable government and let me just use this analogy: it’s trying to enter into a contract with a company that’s going into administration and the people who are going to take over are not willing to fulfil that contract. We can’t negotiate like that.”

McDonnell also said it “may well” be the case that any deal would have to be voted on in a second referendum, adding: “I think the Conservatives have to recognise that if a deal is going to go through there might be a large number of MPs who will want a public vote.”

The prime minister, writing in the Mail on Sunday, issued a rallying cry to MPs urging them to support cross-party efforts to “break the deadlock” and get a deal through the Commons.

She said she understood why some of her colleagues found the decision to hold talks with Labour “uncomfortable”, and admitted it was not what she wanted either.

But she said the crushing blow voters delivered on both parties at the local elections had given “fresh urgency” to the need to end the impasse.

“To the leader of the opposition, I say this: let’s listen to what the voters said in the elections and put our differences aside for a moment. Let’s do a deal,” she wrote.

It came as more than 100 opposition MPs from five parties wrote to the PM and Corbyn to say they would not support a “Westminster stitch-up” and would vote against a customs union unless it is put to a referendum.

The MPs said: “The very worst thing we could do at this time is a Westminster stitch-up whether over the PM’s deal or another deal. This risks alienating both those who voted leave in 2016 and those who voted remain.”