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Theresa May wasting £171,000 an hour on ‘no deal’ Brexit preparations, Corbyn charges

THERESA MAY is wasting £171,000 of taxpayers’ money on a “dangerous and unnecessary” no-deal Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn warns today.

The Labour leader is urging the PM to constructively engage with Labour for an alternative Brexit plan and stop engaging in “brinkmanship” with dissident elements in the Tory Party.

Over the last two Budgets, Chancellor Philip Hammond has given £4.2 billion to support preparations for our departure from the European Union without a “divorce settlement,” the Labour research finds.

Labour said that, of that money, £1.5bn is being spent in this financial year alone, meaning that the government is currently spending £171,000 per hour on these preparations.

This is despite assurances from the government that they have no interest in leaving the EU without a deal.

Mr Corbyn will say: “May’s ‘no deal’ threat is empty and hugely expensive, wasting billions of pounds we should be spending on vital public services.

“It’s a pointless and damaging attempt to appease a faction in her own party when she now needs to reach out to overcome this crisis.

“If the Prime Minister is serious about finding a solution that can command support in Parliament and bring our country together, she must listen to the majority of MPs, as well as members of her own Cabinet, and take ‘no deal’ off the table.”

The latest intervention by Mr Corbyn comes after it was revealed last weekend that Labour would lose votes if it committed to reversing Brexit.

A leaked poll, which pro-EU lobby group Best For Britain tried to suppress after commissioning it, found that a third of voters would be less likely to vote for Labour if it backed a second referendum on Brexit.

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