May responds to Corbyn’s letter on Brexit (UPDATE)

Update: One of Theresa May’s ministers has said the prime minister has rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit plan of a customs union but insisted her letter to the Labour leader showed there was “a lot of common ground” between the parties.

“What’s happening here is not a shifting of red lines,” Rory Stewart, the prisons minister, told BBC Breakfast, reports The Guardian.

On Sunday, Theresa May has responded to Jeremy Corbyn’s letter setting out his five demands for a Brexit deal.

The prime minister queried his call for the UK to stay in a customs union with the EU – but welcomed more talks with Labour on a Brexit agreement.

In her letter, May spoke about the need that the two parties  discuss how “alternative arrangements” to the Irish backstop – a commitment to avoid a hard border – could work.

She also did not reject any of his conditions outright in her reply.

In her response to his letter of last Wednesday, Theresa May told Corbyn: “It is good to see that we agree that the UK should leave the European Union with a deal and that the urgent task at hand is to find a deal that honours our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland, can command support in Parliament and can be negotiated with the EU – not to seek an election or second referendum.”

This is despite Mr Corbyn repeatedly saying there should be a general election if Mrs May cannot get a deal through Parliament. He has also faced pressure from some of his MPs to push for another public vote on Brexit.

The Evening Standard says “Theresa May has effectively rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit demands by expressing her confusion over his stance on a customs union. But the Prime Minister also outlined her desire for discussions between Conservative and Labour teams to consider “alternative arrangements” to the Irish backstop.”