Labour row over whether Single Market would allow state control and investment in transport

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says that being part of the Single Market would continue restrictions on state aid and state ownership for transport and other industries, warning that we "have to be quite careful about the powers we need as national governments".

He made the comments on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday as senior Labour figures went into the party's autumn conference urging the party leadership to adopt a policy of staying in the Single Market beyond the post-Brexit transitional period of continuing the current trading arrangements for at least two years as the Government is now proposing. But a lawyer and Labour party member specialising in EU law speaking at the conference was quoted by the BBC as saying that the UK Government "too often refers to EU law as an excuse, not as a reason for not investing.

But it could do so, and it could do so within the law, Stephen Kinsella was quoted. And Corbyn himself caveated this statement by saying that there was "some dispute" over how far governments could stretch state-aid rules, saying that the Government could have acted more decisively to protect the UK steel industry, which the Conservatives had said was constrained by EU rules.

A column in the City AM newspaper suggested that state aid in key industries could clash with a desire for new trade deals "if one side or the other decides that state aid provides a legitimate reason to impose tariffs," citing the example of a clash between transport manufacturers Boeing and Bombardier over state aid, with the former saying the latter should have tariffs slapped on its new C series jets due to subsidies from the UK and Canadian governments. And the FT said that unions could choose to lobby for protectionism for British industries at the expense of new trade deals - deals the DfT hopes can benefit companies in the transport sector.