ANALYSIS: Jeremy Corbyn confirms we're going to need a bigger cake
3 min read
There's an iconic scene in Jaws where Martin Brody, the aquaphobic police chief on board the shark-hunting Orca, is suddenly confronted with the enormity of the task facing its crew.
Shovelling fish guts into the ocean, the enormous Great White momentarily presents itself, forcing him to recoil in terror.
Turning to the borderline-psychotic captain Bartholomew Quint, he then utters the immortal words: "We're gonna need a bigger boat."
That moment popped into my head while watching Jeremy Corbyn set out Labour's latest thinking on Brexit.
As he explained how his party wanted to join 'a' customs union with the EU rather than 'the' customs union, while also retaining all the good bits of the single market while not being actual members, it became pretty clear that Labour favours the same 'cake and eat it' approach of the Government. If so, we're going to need a bigger cake.
If Labour got its way - and it's a big if - Britain would be able negotiate trade deals in partnership with the EU when it wanted to, and on it's own when it didn't.
"Labour would not countenance a deal that left Britain as a passive recipient of rules decided elsewhere by others," said Corbyn.
On the single market, Corbyn said Labour wanted to "maintain the benefits" of being in it, while being free to discard the inconvenient bits like freedom of movement and restrictions on state aid.
He said: "We cannot be held back inside or outside the EU from taking the steps we need to support cutting edge industries and local business, stop the tide of privatisation and outsourcing or from preventing employers being able to import cheap agency labour to undercut existing pay and conditions."
How the Labour leader plans to sell this pick and mix approach to Brexit to Michel Barnier is anybody's guess. But the EU's chief negotiator - among others - has been crystal clear that when it comes to the customs union and the single market, it's all or nothing.
In a sense, however, that doesn't really matter. Corbyn has probably done enough to win the backing of rebel Tories who want to mandate Theresa May to agree a customs union with the EU, against her will.
This morning, Number 10 was adamant that the PM was not for turning: "The Government will not be joining a customs union. We want to have the freedom to sign our own trade deals and to reach out into the world."
However, will the realities of the Commons parliamentary arithmetic end up forcing her hand?
If Jeremy Corbyn is Martin Brody in this rather tortured analogy, it is worth pointing out that he ends up surviving.
The Prime Minister better hope that she doesn't end up as the Great White shark.
