Theresa May should "rethink her reckless red lines" and consider remaining part of the customs union and single market, Labour has urged.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said there needed to be a UK-wide response to Brexit, after the Democratic Unionist Party refused to accept proposals on a customs border, leading to a deadlock in talks.
But Brexit Secretary David Davis said Labour's policy on the customs union and single market had changed "10 times" in the last year.
Sir Keir, who asked an urgent question in the Commons on the negotiations, said: "Labour is clear that there needs to be a UK-wide response to Brexit.
"So the question for the Government today is this: will the Prime Minister now rethink her reckless red lines and put options such as a customs union and single market back on the table for negotiation?
"Because if the price of the Prime Minister's approach is the break-up of the union and reopening of bitter divides in Northern Ireland then the price is too high."
Mr Davis pointed to comments made by members of the shadow cabinet on remaining in the single market and customs union, and said: "So much for Labour policy on this matter, we can see why it's changed 10 times in the course of the last year."
He continued: "The suggestion that we might depart the European Union but leave one part of the United Kingdom behind still inside the single market and customs union - that is emphatically not something that the UK Government is considering."
Mr Davis said the Government was in the middle of an "ongoing round", and that, while progress had been made, a final conclusion had not yet been reached.
"I believe we are now close to concluding the first phase of negotiations and moving on to talk about our future trade relations," he said.
"There is much common understanding, and both sides agree that we must move forward together."
He told MPs the Government had always been clear that it wanted to protect "all elements" of the Good Friday Agreement to "maintain the common travel area and to protect associated rights".
Mr Davis said the Government recognised that the "integrity" of the EU single market and customs union must be respected after Brexit, but added that it was "equally clear we must respect the integrity of the United Kingdom".
But Sir Keir claimed the last 24 hours had given a "new meaning to the phrase 'coalition of chaos'".
"It's one thing to go to Brussels and fall out with those on the other side of the negotiating table; it's quite another to go to Brussels and fall out with those supposedly on your own side of the negotiating table."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel