Corbyn has played a blinder

It is easy, living in France, to forget that Brexit is going on, never mind going badly. I’m sure this is equally true in Germany, Spain, Italy and most other EU countries, save, perhaps, those, like Poland, that for several years after our departure are likely to feel the pinch. This is because Britain is leaving the EU, not the other way round. The French, if pressed, will say that les anglais were both brave and stupid to vote the way they did. On the other hand, unless they are in the export business or make their money from British tourists, they don’t really care that much. They are content that the negotiations are being handled, in their interests, by Brussels and that London will be made to pay its bills.

The possibility that the UK may yet row back on its sworn position to abandon the Customs Union (sorry, I mean, of course, a customs union) is unlikely to be much of a conversation-stopper in Lyon, Bordeaux or Marseille. Those living in and around the Channel ports may breathe a sigh of relief if the prospect diminishes of long queues of lorries farting diesel fumes as they wait to embark for a free and independent England. But other than that, few give a toss one way or the other.

It is in the UK that the change will most obviously be felt. As a Remainer, I regard leaving the European Union as foolhardy and a leap in the dark. Unlike some, however, I do not pretend that it isn’t going to happen. Instead, I have concentrated my hopes on getting the best deal available, which means remaining inside the Customs Union and forgetting about all those “brilliant” bespoke trade deals so beloved of Boris Johnson and Liam Fox.

Amazingly Jeremy Corbyn agrees with me. His speech yesterday, which knocked those of Johnson and David Davis into a cocked hat, came over not as the ramblings of an accidental leader – the successor, less the brains, of Michael Foot – but as the considered, and measured, views of someone who believes that his time has come and that Europe, on which the Tories are hopelessly divided, is the issue that will propel him into Downing Street.

What happens now depends on Parliament, which is as it should be. Corbyn is not advocating that we reverse the referendum, or that we remain in the Single Market. Instead, he has gone for the motherload of the Customs Union. Under his proposal, Britain would take back control of its borders. We would no longer be bound by the Common Agricultural Policy or the Common fisheries Policy. We would not have to elect members to the despised European Parliament or appoint grandees to the Commission or “treasonous” judges to the Court of Justice. Our prime minister and colleagues would no longer have to waste time at meetings of the European Council. The European flag could be ground into the dust. We could even issue our own shiny blue passports.

No doubt you have views on the wisdom of this. I certainly do. But – and here is the thing – we could continue to trade freely with Europe. We would not be locked out. No tariff wall would be erected. There would be no need for those lines of trucks on either side of the Channel. Just as important, there would be no requirement to re-establish a hard border in Ireland. As for those rollicking trade deals, the UK, as a member of the Customs Union, would continue to have a voice in EU negotiations, exactly as it does now. Life for British business, and British ports, would continue much as before. Though we would have to ensure that we did not diverge obviously from trading standards and regulations set by the European Commission (on which we would no longer be represented), we could do so without having to swallow the entire Single Market package.

Oh … and the great bulk of Britain’s multi-billion pound contribution to the EU budget could indeed be spent instead on the NHS – just as Boris promised.

As a further bonus, since services, unlike goods, are not governed by the rules of the Customs Union, Britain would be free to strike deals on banking and finance with nations across the globe without interference from Brussels. The City would, it is true, still miss out on the opportunity to renew its passport into the Eurozone, which only membership of the single Market can guarantee. But given that financial services are our major source of foreign earnings, the quid might end up long-term as the equal at least of the quo.

It is not, of course, a shoo-in. Done deals are only done when the dealers shake hands and head for the bar. Brussels may decide to dig in its heels and reject the suggestion of Customs Union membership outside of the Single Market. We will know soon enough. And Theresa May could decide to ride into this breach of inter-party consensus or close up the wall with her Tory dead.

But other than that, what’s not to like?

Having sniffed the wind of change, the Labour leader has done what Theresa May has signally failed to do. He has come up with a policy that will unite his party and may well carry the day in Parliament. If Labour, less a handful of recalcitrants, joins with the Tories’ Europhile rump alongside the SNP and the Lib Dems, the Government could fall, but Britain might yet be saved.