Remain campaign in chaos after Jeremy Corbyn dismisses anti-Brexit forecasts as ‘hysterical hype’
Veteran lefty was forced to confront the problems that immigration causes in his speech about the referendum
Jeremy Corbyn plunged the Remain campaign into chaos today by branding Treasury anti-Brexit warnings “hysterical hype” and vowing to torpedo a giant EU-US trade deal.
In what was billed as his biggest pro-EU speech yet, the veteran socialist ended up declaring war on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership — the EU trade deal with the USA.
The hapless Labour leader also went on to attack George Osborne’s Project Fear projections that Brexit would lead to a recession as “hysterical hype”.
Vote Leave boss Dominic Cummings agreed with the Labour leader, saying the Chancellor’s forecasts were as “accurate as horoscopes”, adding “he’s trashed his own credibility even further in this campaign.”
The savage attack came as Mr Corbyn pledged to set out “a positive vision” for staying the in the EU at a speech in Central London.
He rubbished the “prophecies of doom” and “histrionic” claims being made in the referendum campaign ripped apart the Chancellor’s record on the economy.
In a vicious and sustained attack, he said: “There are just three weeks to go until the referendum vote on 23 June, but too much of the debate so far has been dominated by myth-making and prophecies of doom.
“In the final stage of this referendum, as we get closer to what is expected by many to be a very tight vote, it does not help the debate over such a serious issue if the hype and histrionic claims continue or worse intensify.”
“Just over a week ago, George Osborne claimed that the British economy would enter a year-long recession if we voted to leave. This is the same George Osborne who predicted his austerity policies would close the deficit by 2015.
“That’s now scheduled for 2021,” he added.
RELATED STORIES
“It’s the same George Osborne who said the British economy would be ‘carried aloft by the march of the makers’, yet the manufacturing sector has stagnated ever since — and manufacturing employment declined.
“The biggest risk of recession in this country is from a Conservative government that is failing — failing on the deficit, failing on the debt, failing to rebalance the economy and failing to boost productivity.”
Under massive pressure from moderate Labour, Mr Corbyn was also forced to confront the problems that immigration causes for the first time.
Tim Roache from the GMB union said yesterday that “Labour needs to be a bit more bold, it needs to be a bit more brave, in taking on the issues in working people’s minds, rather than keeping silent.
The union chief added: “Whether we like it or not, that is immigration and the free movement of labour.”
Hitting back, Mr Corbyn finally conceded that “some communities can change dramatically and rapidly and that can be disconcerting for some people.”
After spending months with his fingers in his ears, Mr Corbyn added: “That doesn’t make them Little Englanders, xenophobes or racists.
“More people living in an area can put real pressure on local services like GPs surgeries, schools and housing.”
However, he argued that it is “not migrants that undercut wages” and “we cannot and should not want to close the borders.”
Instead he argued that Britain should use “unspent EU funds” to relieve pressure on public services, rather than attempt to control levels of immigration.
One senior Labour figure accused the veteran Eurosceptic lefty of attempting to “sabotage” the remain campaign.
Taking aim at the the EU’s trade deal with the USA, Mr Corbyn said: “French President, Francois Hollande said he would veto the deal as it stands and to become law any deal would have to be ratified by each member state.”
“So today we give this pledge, as it stands, we too would reject TTIP – and veto it in Government.”
“And there is a challenge to the Prime Minister, if it’s not good enough for France; it’s not good enough for Britain either,” he added.
The EU having a trade deal with the USA is one of the key planks of the Remain camp’s argument to why we should stay in the union.
But Mr Corbyn said that “many people are concerned rightly, that it could open up public services to further privatisation – and make privatisation effectively irreversible.
“Others are concerned about any potential watering down of consumer rights, food safety standards, rights at work or environmental protections.”
Fellow Labour MP Kate Hoey, who is backing Leave hit back saying the only way to block TTIP would be for Britain to quit the EU: “Thousands of hours and many millions of pounds have been poured into this deal.
“They aren’t going to walk away because Jeremy says so, and he can’t make them. That’s the reality.”