Hilary Benn wants his Brexit committee to figure out what the Prime Minister is up to
Hilary Benn has doubled-down on his calls for a transitional Brexit arrangement and called on the UK government to come clean on what it wants to achieve from the upcoming negotiations.
Benn, who was sacked as shadow foreign secretary by Jeremy Corbyn following the EU referendum, said this morning he would use his new position as chair of a cross-party backbench Brexit committee to scrutinise the government's plans and make sure they provide some certainty over the future direction of negotiations between the UK and the EU.
He told Andrew Marr on BBC One this morning: "The immediate task is to work out what the UK's negotiating objectives will be. We need to work out how to balance controls on freedom movement with the greatest access to the Single Market."
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Benn saw off his Labour colleague and Brexit-campaigner Kate Hoey for the position of chair of the select committee, which will be set up to shadow the work of David Davis' new "department for exiting the European Union", last week. Other members have not yet been appointed to the panel.
Benn also threw doubts on the government's ability to negotiate both an exit withdrawal from the EU and a new free trade agreement within the two year time frame afforded under Article 50. The Labour grandee wants the government to put in place a "transitional agreement" in order to "offer some certainty to business" and ensure they do not reach a "cliff edge".
Theresa May has repeatedly insisted she will not offer a "running commentary" on the government's negotiating position.