Brexit will go down in history as ‘national failure’: Corbyn

UK’s opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has warned Brexit will go down in history as a "national failure" if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to protect jobs and living standards in the UK.

Corbyn made the comments on Wednesday, hours after May formally triggered the formal, two-year process of withdrawing Britain from the EU.

"The British people made the decision to leave the European Union and Labour respects that decision. Britain is going to change as a result. The question is how," Corbyn said.

He warned that Brexit should not come at the expense of job opportunities, the standard of living and the economy as a whole.

"The Conservatives want to use Brexit to turn our country into a low-wage tax haven. Labour is determined to ensure we can rebuild and transform Britain, so no one and no community is left behind. It will be a national failure of historic proportions if the prime minister comes back from Brussels without having secured protection for jobs and living standard," the Labor leader said. 

Launching the process of Britain’s exit from the EU, popularly known as Brexit, was announced by the prime minister on Wednesday at the UK Parliament, after more than 40 years of membership in the bloc.

On behalf of May, British Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow hand-delivered a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels to officially notify the EU of Britain's decision to withdraw from the bloc.

Brussels is expected to deliver its first response to London on Friday, and that would be followed by a summit of EU leaders on April 29 to adopt their own guidelines, possibly taking weeks before formal talks start.

The United Kingdom held a referendum last June in which Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin to leave the EU, the first member state ever to do so.

However, there is a chance that the Brexit negotiations will break down and the UK will be forced to exit the EU without any deal in place.

The EU is determined to preserve its own unity and has said that any Brexit agreement must not encourage other member states to leave the bloc.

Reactions poured in from European countries after May triggered the formal divorce process.

At a news conference at the EU headquarters after receiving the notification letter, Tusk spoke with regret.

“There was no reason to pretend that this is a happy day, neither in Brussels, nor in London," Tusk said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country certainly did not wish for an actual Brexit.

Merkel also said Germany will strive to make the Brexit impact on EU citizens in the UK as small as possible.

On the contrary, Brexit has incited the urge for a divorce from the EU among a number of European politicians, including French presidential candidate Marine Le pen.

French President Francois Hollande also said the two-year process to quit the EU will be “painful for the British.”

Read More:

• UK prime minister triggers Brexit process

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