Labour in turmoil as Jeremy Corbyn says he would still leave the EU if he were PM

In an interview with the Guardian, the leader of the opposition insisted that if he won a snap General Election he would go to Brussels and try to renegotiate Theresa May’s deal in time for March 29, the day Britain is due to leave the EU.

The remarks have ensured there’ll be no Christmas truce in the party’s civil war this year, Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray, pictured, even accused Corbyn of betraying his country.

And in a separate interview, John McDonnell hinted that Corbyn calling for a vote of no confidence in the Government would only happen if Labour cosied up to the DUP.

The shadow chancellor, a longtime supporter of a united Ireland, who has previously ruled out working with the SNP, said he could envisage a “joint working programme,” between Labour and the Northern Irish Unionists.

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A stunned Nicola Sturgeon said Labour had “lost the plot”.

In his interview with the Guardian, Corbyn said MPs “should vote down this deal; we should then go back to the EU with a discussion about a customs union,” he added.

That seemed to contradict Keir Starmer, pictured below, the shadow Brexit secretary, who said at the end of November that the “chance to get the right deal has now gone”.

Starmer said the Government had frittered away “the opportunity to negotiate something which could have reflected what happened in June 2016”.

Corbyn dismissed questions about what stance Labour would take if there was to be a second referendum on Brexit, saying: “It would be a matter for the party to decide what the policy would be” and that his “proposal at this moment is that we go forward, trying to get a customs union with the EU, in which we would be able to be proper trading partners.”

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He added: “We have to recognise a number of things. One is, as a party, about 60% of Labour voters voted Remain; about 40% voted Leave.

“We have to recognise why people voted in those directions.”

Corbyn also attacked Brussels over its rules on state aid and competition: “I think the state aid rules do need to be looked at again because quite clearly, if you want to regenerate an economy, as we would want to do in government, then I don’t want to be told by somebody else that we can’t use state aid in order to be able to develop industry in this country.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Corbyn would be the “midwife” of Brexit.

“Jeremy Corbyn has finally come off the fence he’s been sat on for the past two years. But unfathomably he’s come down on the same side as Theresa May.

“The Labour Party is incapable of providing opposition to the worst UK Government that most people can remember.”

He added: “Jeremy Corbyn seems incapable of leading a party worthy of opposition, never mind government. He is the midwife to the delivery of the Tory’s Brexit plans.”

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Labour’s former shadow business minister Chuka Umunna, pictured below, said the interview was “deeply depressing and disappointing”.

Writing on Facebook he said: “Labour should stop pretending there is ‘good’ Brexit deal and we should certainly not be sponsoring this project because Brexit is the problem – it solves nothing.”

Murray, the former shadow secretary of state for Scotland said Labour’s policy was “supposed to be driven by its members”.

He tweeted: “The members and CLPs want a @peoplesvote_uk as passed at conference. This is utterly contemptuous of the party and a betrayal of the country.”

Meanwhile, McDonnell, who was condemned by the DUP for praising the IRA’s “bravery” in 2003, explained he could now work well with Arlene Foster’s party.

“This is a funny thing, I know — despite our differences around the issue around united Ireland and matters related to that, I’ve always had a good relationship with them,” he told The Times.

McDonnell added that he had always been able to talk to DUP MPs, because “it’s always been on the basis of this is where we stand on a number of issues. Remember, they have a very large working-class community that they represent”.

He added: “I can see a joint working programme. I can see them voting for policies that we’d advocate when we get into Government.”

Two weeks ago during a visit to Glasgow, McDonnell ruled out working with the SNP and other parties, saying Labour would win an election with a “handsome majority.”

“If things go wrong and we’re the largest party we’ll form a minority government. We will bring forward our transformative programme and if other parties support it,” he said.

Sturgeon took to Twitter to criticise McDonnell: “A Labour Party that often seems allergic to any prospect of working with progressive SNP is quite happy to cosy up to the DUP. Westminster politics – Tory and Labour – really has lost the plot.”