Jeremy Corbyn says he is "fighting to win" the General Election, refusing to address questions about what would happen if he was defeated on 8 June on the scale of the recent local elections.
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Mr Corbyn was asked whether he would stand down as Labour leader in those circumstances.
He said: "I've been elected to lead this party and I'm very proud to do so. I'm very proud of the increased membership and the increase in our party activity.
"Obviously I am disappointed in the election results on Thursday.
"We're going all out to elect Labour MPs on 8 June. After that, we'll see what the result is."
:: Analysis: Why it might be worth a punt on a Corbyn win
Pressed about whether he would cling on, Mr Corbyn said: "I'm not answering any of those questions because we are fighting to win this election to get a Labour government that will deliver for the people of this country."
Mr Corbyn says the local election results were partly to do with UKIP's decline rather than Labour's and he urged voters leaving UKIP not to instinctively switch to the Conservatives.
He said: "I think a lot of UKIP voters probably voted Conservative and I would urge them to think very carefully about what they are voting for.
"Do they want to live in a society where the health service is underfunded, where schools have to have collections from the parents to pay for the teachers and there is a growing housing crisis, or do they want a Labour alternative which is fair taxation for those who can afford to pay it."
Mr Corbyn has been backed by his shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who has dampened down his earlier suggestion that losing the election would mean "inevitable" resignation.
"I think that we're in there with a real fight. We know how tough it is," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.
"I think we're going to win this election. Full stop. I'm fighting to win this election," he said, adding: "We're not contemplating any loss. We're gonna win the votes and we're gonna win this election. Why? Because our country needs us."
And former shadow chancellor Alan Johnson told Sky News that talk of a Tory landslide was only built on "wishful thinking in some aspects of the print media".
Asked whether he thought this General Election was a battle for the very existence of the Labour Party he told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "Yes. It is.
"Because, you lose two elections and that's bad enough. To lose three elections on the trot at such a difficult period for our country...
"That's why Jeremy Corbyn's got to step up to the plate. That's why he's got to show that he can do all the things that his supporters believe that he can do. It is an existential threat to the party."
Moving to the subject of Brexit negotiations, Jeremy Corbyn explained to Sky News how he would do things differently to Theresa May.
He said: "I wouldn't accuse them (EU officials) of interfering with this country's elections when there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest they are doing that.
"I wouldn't start negotiations by threatening I might walk away and set up some kind of low tax enterprise on the shores of Europe.
"I would point out to them that we had a referendum, that we've had a decision, that we want to maintain good serious trading relationship with Europe with tariff-free access to the European market."
Mr Corbyn disagreed with the Conservative negotiating position preferring no deal to a bad deal, saying: "To me the deal is fundamentally about trade access."
He added: "If you want World Trade Organisation rules you immediately impose tariffs on yourself.
"What they (the Conservatives) are saying is they don't care about jobs in Sunderland. They don't care about jobs in Birmingham. They don't care about jobs in Swindon. They don't care about jobs in Oxford.
"They don't care about the future of Airbus and its integrated production.
"Surely they need to be a bit more sensible and serious about it."
The Labour leader denied suggestions that his stance might lead to a second referendum.
He said: "We would negotiate sensibly and seriously and respectfully with them and recognise that we all have an interest in reaching a decent agreement."
Mr Corbyn was also quizzed over why Andy Burnham didn't appear by his side when the Labour leader celebrated his mayoral victory in Manchester. He insisted Mr Burnham's absence was "not a problem" and that he and the new Mayor of Greater Manchester were in regular contact.
He said reports that the celebrations were organised by Momentum and therefore excluded Labour Party HQ were inaccurate, insisting that all his events were organised by the Labour Party and all his campaign staff were also party members.
No comments:
Post a Comment