By STEWART PATERSON

LABOUR wants a Brexit deal that won’t prevent state ownership of public services Jeremy Corbyn has said.

Speaking at the Scottish Labour Conference in Dundee, Mr Corbyn said he wants a deal that protects access to the single market but not at the expense of Labour’s priorities.

He said the Tories’ Brexit plans were in chaos and risks losing access to European markets meaning fewer opportunities for people in the UK.

As opponents say Labour has no clear policy on Brexit, Mr Corbyn said Labour’s plans had been clear from the outset.

Mr Corbyn spoke to around 1000 delegates and said Labour would negotiate “protections and exemptions” from current EU rules on public service competition and anything that restricts the ability to support local industry.

He told the conference Labour is the only party focusing on the issues that matter to people in their everyday lives.

He said: “Retaining the benefits of the customs union and the single market is vital to future Labour governments in both Holyrood and Westminster if we are to fully implement our socialist programme for change in our society.”

However, he said any deal negotiated must be compatible with: “Plans to bring the railways and postal service into full public ownership, transform energy markets and end the privatisation of our public services.”

His vision is incompatible with many current EU rules on employment and trade and he said Labour wouldn’t sign up to them.

He said: “We cannot be held back inside or outside the EU from taking the steps we need to develop and invest in cutting edge industries and local business to stop the tide of privatisation and outsourcing.

“Or from preventing employers being able to import cheap agency labour, to undercut existing pay and conditions in the name of free market orthodoxy.”

The SNP said Labour’s plans would leave the UK and Scotland outside the single market and would cost jobs.

The party warned Labour’s ideas outlined by Mr Corbyn backed a Tory Brexit outside the single market.

Clare Haughey, Rutherglen SNP MSP said: “Nothing we heard today from Jeremy Corbyn can disguise the fact that he and Labour are backing the Tories’ plans to take Scotland out of the single market against our will.”