The best option available to us in terms of our economy is remaining in the European Union

If we insist on leaving the EU then there is realistically only one way to honour our obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and that is to remain members of both the customs union and the single market

The talks are clearly not going anywhere. If they are going to include permanent membership of a customs union then frankly we would be better off staying in the EU then we would have a voice in the trade arrangements that are being negotiated. We can't say we are leaving the EU then half stay in it.

There's a growing view, I think probably a majority view in Parliament now, that it's in our national interests and economic interests to stay in a customs union with the EU. We've got a huge manufacturing sector in the UK that needs to be protected, with many goods going over borders many, many times, and we need to protect that.

We have long argued that a customs union is a viable option for the final deal. So Labour would seek to negotiate a new comprehensive UK-EU customs union to ensure that there are no tariffs with Europe and to help avoid any need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.

You can not leave the European Union and be in the single market and the customs union.

[Remaining in the EU would be the] best option for the country and my constituents

a customs union means no independent trade policy

The principle is the backstop which traps us into following EU customs tariffs until the EU gives us permission to leave the customs union... we have to find a different solution.

[I want a partnership with the EU that] retains the benefits of the single market and the customs union

Localisation stands, at best, at the limits of practical possibility, but it has the decisive argument in its favour that there will be no alternative.

I believe it is clearly in our national interest to remain a member of the European Union.

We will be informed by our most important ally that it is in our interests to stay in the EU, no matter how flawed we may feel that organisation to be. Never mind the loss of sovereignty; never mind the expense and the bureaucracy and the uncontrolled immigration. The American view is very clear.

the UK cannot be trapped in a permanent customs arrangement