Corbyn dodges Leave or Remain question FIVE times in Marr’s brutal Brexit take down

The BBC’s Andrew Marr hit out at Jeremy Corbyn for “not answering the question” during a fierce grilling of the Labour leader. Mr Corbyn repeatedly refused to say whether he wants to the UK to stay or remain in the EU – something the BBC broacaster described as a “simple question”. Marr pointed out that this was “the biggest question facing the country” and the Labour leader had no answer for it.

Mr Corbyn struggled to respond, but repeatedly insisted that Labour would hold an in/out referendum once the left-wing party secures a deal with the EU.

Marr said: “Can I start with a very simple question. Do you want this country to leave the EU or not?”

The Labour leader said that he would leave that question up to the country after he negotiates a “credible option” to leave  with Brussels.Marr responded: “But, as someone who wants to lead the country, what is your own personal opinion on whether you want to leave the EU or not?

“It’s one of the biggest questions facing this country.”

The increasingly tetchy party leader retorted it was only “one of the biggest questions facing people in this country”.

He added: “The answer is, as I’ve explained to you, that we will negotiate a credible option, put that alongside Remain and the British people will make their mind up on that basis and we will discuss this obviously when we’ve concluded those initial negotiations which will start immediately we take office.”

Marr asked three more times whether the Labour leader personally wants the country to leave or remain inside the EU bloc – and Mr Corbyn dodged the topic three more times.

The Labour leader then bizarrely responded to the BBC host in third person, saying: “Jeremy Corbyn can say this, that we have to have a close trading relationship with Europe.”

Marr rebuked: “That’s a very persuasive way of not answering my questions.”

The BBC broadcaster suggested that EU negotiators would not take the Labour leader “very seriously” in talks, given the majority of his shadow cabinet are prominent Remainers.

Marr questioned whether Mr Corbyn would leave Diane Abbott and John McDonnell out of the Brexit talks in Brussels.

Mr Corbyn was adamant that his negotiating team would include pro-Brexit voices as “it’s very important that all parts of the country are represented and that’s what I would seek to do”.

The BBC grilling comes as the Tories surged to a whopping 17-point lead over Labour ahead of the 12 December election.

The Conservatives hit 45 percent while Labour trailed behind on 28 percent.

The YouGov poll for the Sunday Times also showed that the Liberal Democrats, who want to revoke Brexit, remained stagnant in the polls.