Does Jeremy Corbyn’s meeting with Tory advocates of a Norway-style deal mean we are heading for a soft Brexit?

Analysis: Nick Boles and Oliver Letwin met the Labour leader this afternoon: is this, asks John Rentoul, the beginning of a cross-party compromise?

Can Jeremy Corbyn create a soft Brexit alliance? (AFP/Getty)

Nick Boles and Oliver Letwin are Conservative backbench MPs who support a super-soft form of Brexit known as Norway-plus.

Their suggestion, which they call Common Market 2.0, is that we should be like Norway, outside the EU but a member of its single market. Not only that, but we should also be in a customs union with the EU, which is an even closer relationship than Norway’s.

There is some overlap between their plan and the Labour Party’s policy, which is to keep Britain in a permanent customs union with the EU. So it is significant that Jeremy Corbyn is holding talks with Boles and Letwin.