Jeremy Corbyn has launched Labour’s election campaign promising to “get Brexit sorted within six months”.
The Labour leader said that, if the public put him Downing Street, he would ensure they had “the final say” with a referendum offering the choice between leaving with “a sensible deal” or remaining in the EU.
Mr Corbyn also pledged to “invest in every nation and region” and vowed to “transform” the UK by taking on the “tax dodgers, dodgy landlords, bad bosses and big polluters” at an event in London yesterday.
He said: “After three long years of Brexit division and failure from the Tories, we have to get this issue sorted. We need to take it out of the hands of the politicians and trust the people to have the final say.
“Labour will get Brexit sorted within six months.”
Mr Corbyn, in what will be a central attack line on the Tories, then warned that the “NHS is up for grabs by US corporations in a one-sided Trump sell-out”.
He said: “We will stop them. Labour won’t let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service. It’s not for sale, to him or anyone.”
His comments were met with cheers from supporters, who stood up and chanted “not for sale”.
Flanked by members of the shadow cabinet, Mr Corbyn added: “You know what really scares the elite? What they’re actually afraid of is paying their taxes.
“So in this election they’ll fight harder and dirtier than ever before. They’ll throw everything at us because they know we’re not afraid to take them on.
“So we’re going after the tax dodgers. We’re going after the dodgy landlords. We’re going after the bad bosses. We’re going after the big polluters. Because we know whose side we’re on.”
Following the speech, the Labour leader faced further questions over allegations he would offer a second independence referendum in return for support from the SNP at Westminster.
Mr Corbyn said he had a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon about 10 days ago but refused to say what was discussed.
He said: “I keep touch with political leaders around the country because that is what leading the party is all about”.
Mr Corbyn’s shadow Treasury minister, Clive Lewis, was asked about the same issue on the BBC yesterday.
Mr Lewis said: “Clearly if there is a democratic event in Scotland in the years after a Labour government is elected, that comes back with a clear and fresh mandate for a second independence referendum, it would be wrong to stand in the way of a second referendum.”
Labour’s launch came as Boris Johnson also joined the campaign trail, promising to deliver Brexit by January at the “absolute latest” if the Tories win.
Mr Johnson, who pledged the UK would be out by the end of October “do or die”, was determined to point the finger of blame at Parliament during a visit to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge yesterday.
He said: “There are just too many people who are basically opposed to Brexit, who want to frustrate it.
“It was the mandate of the people. They voted by a pretty substantial majority to do this and Parliament has simply stood in their way.
“If you vote for us and we get our programme through – which we will because it’s oven ready, it’s there to go – then we can be out at the absolute latest by January.”
