THERESA May will update MPs on her Brexit progress this afternoon, a whole day earlier than expected. However, there is seemingly little chance of any major announcement, with Brussels chief negotiator Michel Barnier telling the media nothing had changed.
“We’re waiting for clarity and movement from the United Kingdom,” Barnier said ahead of a meeting with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay.
“For all the reasons confirmed by the president of the council … European commission and parliament, from the European side we consider that the work done on the withdrawal agreement on the organisation of the separation cannot be reopened,” he added.
But without changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, and in particular around the backstop – the safety net to prevent a hard border in Ireland – May is unlikely to have the support of enough of her own MPs to get the deal through Parliament.
READ MORE: Ireland’s media is a vital counter to London-based Brexit bampottery
Number 10 has, however, ruled out adopting Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a customs union.
“We are absolutely clear on this: we’re not considering Jeremy Corbyn’s customs proposals; we’re not considering any proposals to remain in the customs union. We must have our own, independent trade policy,” May’s spokesman said.
The possibility that May might have even considered working with Corbyn to get her deal through the Commons had infuriated Brexiteer Tories.
Boris Johnson said it would have been a “complete U-turn”.
“He now wants to frustrate Brexit very largely by staying in a permanent customs union,” the former foreign secretary said.
He added: “I don’t think that there is any mileage for the Prime Minister or the Government in trying to do a deal with Labour because they will just try to trap Theresa May. They will just try to do a deal that is toxic.”
There have been splits in Labour too over the possibility of a second Brexit referendum.
In his letter to May last week, where he offered his party’s support for the Government’s deal if the Tory leader backed remaining in a customs union, Corbyn was supposed to have included a threat to support a so-called People’s Vote.
According to ITV’s political editor Robert Peston, in the draft text, agreed between the leader and shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer, was a threat that if the Prime Minister did not agree to Corbyn’s terms on Brexit then Labour would officially back a People’s Vote.
But in the final text sent to May that paragraph had been removed.
Starmer, it is claimed, then called the leader’s office and was told they had simply forgotten it.
The Labour frontbencher was, Peston reported, unhappy.
One source told the journalist that the party wanted to see “a Tory Brexit through so they can wash their hands of it”.
The likelihood of a People’s Vote is slim unless Labour throw their weight behind it.
That could happen this week, when MPs debate an amendable motion on Thursday.
May’s statement, which had been expected for Wednesday, has been moved forward to give MPs an extra day to draft amendments, the Prime Minister’s spokesman confirmed.
READ MORE: Secret Brexit meeting between Orange Order and Scottish Tory minister
Meanwhile, a new report by the Resolution Foundation claims real household disposable incomes are £1500 lower today than they would have been had Britain voted to remain in the EU.
Analysis from the think tank claims the sharp surge in inflation after the 2016 vote, along with sluggish income growth, has significantly eroded income for British families.
The researchers said: “Much of this reflects stronger inflation ... and that is overwhelmingly a direct effect of the UK’s Brexit decision “No one can say definitely how much of that lost income is exclusively down to the Brexit effect, but it’s hard not to conclude that Brexit must be the single biggest factor.”
Resolution Foundation research director James Smith added: “There has been much discussion about the impact of this uncertainty on businesses, but not enough about its effect on household incomes.
“The UK’s stark under-performance on income growth since 2016 – which has tailed off more than other advanced economies – has left UK households taking a £1500 hit to their living standards.
“As we approach Brexit day on March 29, politicians in all parties need to recognise how much is at stake for family living standards and that how the country goes forward, not just where it is heading, matters for household incomes in the here and now.”
Last week the Bank of England predicted Britain’s economy would grow by just 1.2% this year,
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