Labour will not back Theresa May's EU exit plan agreed by Tory cabinet, party's Brexit chief Sir Keir Starmer says

Government strategy criticised by opposition parties and Tory Brexiteers, casting doubts over Theresa May's ability to secure MPs' backing

Labour would vote against the type of Brexit deal being pursued by Theresa May, Sir Keir Starmer has said, fuelling doubts about the government's ability to get its plans through Parliament.

The shadow Brexit secretary said the strategy agreed by the cabinet at Chequers on Friday did not meet Labour's six tests for securing its support.

Ministers' proposals for the UK's future relationship with the EU are "unworkable", "a bureaucratic nightmare" and "a fudge", he said.

His comments will fuel speculation that Ms May could struggle to get MPs to support the final deal she negotiates with Brussels, with Eurosceptic Tories also saying they would vote against an agreement that keeps Britain tied closely to the EU.

Some senior Conservatives have made clear that Ms May would be ousted if Parliament rejects her Brexit deal - a move that could result in a fresh general election or a second Brexit referendum.

Asked whether Labour would support a deal based on the proposals agreed at Chequers, Sir Keir said: "She hasn't met our demands. We've been clear you need a comprehensive customs union and you need a single market deal with shared institutions and shared regulations.

"She's come up with a fudge on customs. It is a fudge and it's going to unravel. She's going to have to think again."

He added: "There's an unreality about the position she's landed in."

Sir Keir criticised the government's plans for a "facilitated customs arrangement" that would see an open border maintained in Northern Ireland by using technology to determine where goods are heading and therefore which tariffs should be applied.

"It's based on the idea that at the border you can distinguish between goods that are going to stay in the UK and those going to the EU," he said. "It's unworkable, it's a bureaucratic nightmare. This is a fudge."

He called on Ms May to instead adopt Labour's policy of keeping Britain in a customs union with the EU, saying: "We've argued for a comprehensive customs union with the EU. In order to avoid that, the prime minister has gone to these extraordinary lengths to come up with this bureaucratic nightmare which is not going to work."

Pro-EU Conservative MPs have tabled an amendment to the customs bill, due back before Parliament next week, that would force the government to negotiate a customs union with the EU. Sir Keir claimed there was a parliamentary majority in favour of such a policy and called on Ms May to put it to a vote.

Brexit: Theresa May secures Cabinet backing after meeting at Chequers

He also suggested Labour could support giving EU citizens preferential immigration rights after Brexit - something Ms May has said the government is considering.

He said: "Inevitably if you want a very good deal with the EU - which we do want and we need - that comes with the idea that there will be treatment for EU citizens in that way.

"I accept the principle that if you want the right deal with the EU - and we do - that is going to involve preferential treatment for EU citizens."

He added: "The economy needs people to be able to cross borders to work, to cross borders into the EU and from the EU to here.

"Any sensible proposal going forwards is going to see an ability of people who are working either here or in the EU to be able to do that."