Five reasons Labour say Boris Johnson's Brexit deal is worse than Theresa May's

Boris Johnson's deal will be voted on by MPs on Saturday.

Parliament is about to take a momentous decision. MPs will be asked whether or not they are happy to sign off on Boris Johnson’s plan for Brexit.

We are all frustrated with the Government’s chaotic approach to the Brexit negotiations and the deadlock in Parliament.

However, when I read the small print of Boris Johnson’s agreement it became clear to me that this is a fundamentally bad deal for our country.

It is worse than Theresa May’s deal – and here are the five reasons why.

First, it rules out any possibility of the UK negotiating a new customs union with the EU after we leave.

That would represent a huge blow to British manufacturing and the communities that are so dependent on those industries.

Second, Boris Johnson’s deal rejects the UK having a close relationship with the Single Market. It strips out the safety net on workplace rights, consumer protections and environmental standards.

Even by the Government’s own estimates, the basic free trade agreement envisaged by the deal would make every region and nation in the UK poorer.

Third, if this deal is passed then there is a very real risk that we would crash out on no deal terms at the end of December 2020.

That is not only my assessment, it is the viewed shared by the Tory MP John Baron who revealed to the BBC that Johnson’s deal “means we could leave on no-deal terms next year.” 

Baron let the cat out of the bag. Boris Johnson’s plan is the blueprint for a disastrous cliff-edge Brexit in little over a year’s time – and that is why it has the support of so many Tory MPs.

Fourth, the proposals being debated do nothing to address the serious concerns Labour has raised about security cooperation or participation in EU agencies and programmes after Brexit.

It is a simple copy and paste job on the previous Prime Minister’s flawed deal.

Finally, for Mirror readers wondering why Labour doesn’t trust Boris Johnson, you only have to look at how he has treated his coalition partners.

He told the DUP conference last year that “no British Conservative government could or should sign up to” a deal that put a customs border in the Irish Sea. And yet that is precisely what the Prime Minister’s deal does.

Johnson’s treatment of the DUP should come as no surprise. He will turn his back on anyone if it suits his own personal ambition.

The deal before Parliament is a sell out deal. It sells out our economy, manufacturing base and people’s jobs.

The small print lays bare that the end destination is a damaging right-wing project, which will rip apart our relationship with the EU and replace it with a Trump-style US economy.

That is why the Labour and trade union movement cannot support this deal.