By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has urged Prime Minister Theresa May and her cabinet to “pull yourself together or make way” and let his team negotiate Brexit with the EU.
In an energetic speech on the closing day of his party’s autumn conference in Brighton, Corbyn said Labour is now ready to govern the country.
Reminding party activists that the party had won the highest increase of votes in last June’s general election since 1945, Corbyn said “we became a government-in-waiting”.
He said: “Labour is ready. The Tories are not. They are definitely not strong, and they are certainly not stable.”
Corbyn said May’s Conservatives are “showing us what a coalition of chaos looks like,” arguing that their record shows more homelessness, and more people in poverty than ever before - in a reference to May's election campaign during which she said if Labour won the election there would be a “coalition of chaos” in the U.K.
“That is not strong and stable. It is callous and it is calculated,” Corbyn said. “The Tories calculated that making people poorer in the name of austerity would pay for hefty tax cuts for the rich and the powerful.”
Corbyn said his party, when in government, would use the national investment bank to generate good jobs in every region in the country.
Brexit
The Labour leader underlined that they respect Brexit as a democratic decision but it did not mean “giving a green light to recklessness”.
Corbyn said Labour is the only party that can "unite everyone in our country around a progressive vision of what our country could be" after Brexit.
"Labour is the only party that can bring together those who voted and Leave and those who voted Remain," he said.
However, he failed short of explaining any of his party’s strategies on Brexit -- a point Labour has received criticism for during this week’s conference.
Corbyn said Labour would push for "unimpeded access to the single market" and fight to protect jobs and wages, while rejecting immigration targets.
Also speaking about one of the key issues of Brexit negotiations, Corbyn said the estimated three million “EU citizens living and working in Britain are welcome here”.
He urged May to guarantee their future now.
“If you don’t, we will, when we are in government,” he said.
Corbyn said Conservatives offered a “shambolic Brexit that drives down standards”, adding that his party will never follow them “into the gutter of blaming migrants for the ills of our society”.
“It isn’t migrants who drive down wages, but the worst bosses, in collusion with the Tory government,” he said.
Labour will address this, “not pander to scapegoating or racism”, Corbyn added.
Foreign policy
On foreign policy, Corbyn urged Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to “end the violence now against the Rohingya in Myanmar and allow the UN and international aid agencies into Rakhine state”.
“The Rohingya have suffered for too long,” he said.
Corbyn also called for "real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people" and "a genuine two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict".
Also touching on the relations with the U.S., Corbyn said the U.K. should be "a candid friend" to the United States.
“The values we share are not served by building walls, banning immigrants on the basis of religion, polluting the planet, or pandering to racism,” Corbyn said, referring to various U.S. policies that attracted criticism since the start of Donald Trump’s presidency.
“And let me say frankly -- the speech made by the U.S. president to the United Nations last week was deeply disturbing,” Corbyn said. “It threatened war and talked of tearing up international agreements.”
“Devoid of concern for human rights or universal values, it was not the speech of a world leader,” he added.
“If the special relationship [between the U.K. and U.S.] means anything, it must mean that we can say to Washington: ‘That way is the wrong way’,” he said. “So let Britain’s voice be heard loud and clear for peace, justice and cooperation.”
