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JEREMY CORBYN will vow today that the next Labour government will win improved workers’ rights from Brussels if Britain remains in the European Union.
In an address to a rally of Remain supporters in London, he will argue that raising employment standards at a European level can stop the undercutting of wages for workers across the continent.
The Labour leader will also say that EU rules against public ownership must be overhauled.
He will challenge suggestions that EU state aid rules would prevent government intervention in the steel industry, saying it is “odd” that other member states had managed to provide support within the rules.
Leave campaigners on the left say laws over public ownership and workers’ rights should be solely decided at Westminster.
But, in a bid to win over left-wing critics of the EU, Mr Corbyn will add: “When Labour comes into government we will work with our allies across the continent to reform the European Union to increase democratic accountability, to strengthen workers’ rights and the scope for public enterprise … and to work together to tackle issues like tax avoidance and climate change.”
The Star revealed how the Labour leader has struck up a friendship with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa and is planning a speaking tour of the country to support his anti-austerity agenda.
Mr Corbyn said it was the start of an “anti-austerity coalition” which could transform the EU.
But former Labour MP and Vote Leave spokesman Ian Davidson told the Star: “Jeremy has been badly advised if he’s being told that reform of the European Union is possible. It isn’t.
“The EU is firmly in the grip of neoliberal ideology and governments. The sort of reforms that he understandably and laudably is looking for would require unanimity among European governments, which would be impossible.
“Only by leaving the EU and casting off the neoliberal shackles of Brussels will Labour be able to take the railways into public ownership and overturn the anti-trade union judgements of the European Court.”
