Labour deputy Tom Watson set to defy Jeremy Corbyn on 'buying British'

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson is set to defy Jeremy Corbyn by proposing that British citizens should "buy British" in reaction to Brexit and a protectionist Donald Trump.

Watson, speaking at the Co-operative Party Economic Conference in London, will also suggest reforms could put British workers first, thus handing the manufacturing sector a "Brexit bounce".

In contrast, Corbyn has spoken recently about his support for freedom of movement and a full tariff-free access to the European Union's (EU) Single Market after Brexit.

Watson's speech comes as MPs Tulip Siddiq and Jo Stevens quit Corbyn's frontbench, after the Labour leader said he would impose a three-line-whip siding with the government on the Article 50 vote notify the EU of the UK leaving the bloc.

Watson will say during the speech that in the face of a protectionist Donald Trump the UK's natural response was to "buy British". He added that Great Britain must keep an open eye to Trump's tenure.

It has also been reported that around 20 Labour MPs have tabled a so-called "reasoned amendment" to the Article 50 Bill, preventing it having a second reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday 1 January, despite Corbyn's whip.

By Watson's own admission, he and Corbyn have had a fractured relationship since last summer's Labour leadership contest. It was even reported that Watson did not even invite Corbyn to his 50th birthday bash in London earlier this month, despite many Labour bigwigs being in attendance.

"If Trump says buy American, our rational response is buy British," Watson is set to say. "Yet to say 'buy British' these days risks sneering derision from much of Britain's commentariat and chattering classes, few of whom have been on a factory floor lately. When did you last hear Theresa May say it?

"It is an age-old bugbear of many politicians that the UK's strict adherence to EU procurement rules is observed more keenly in London than in Rome and Paris.

"That era is about to end. The opportunities in public sector procurement to purchase British made goods and services are significant."

He will add: "The election of Donald Trump adds real uncertainty to global trading arrangements, against a backdrop of significantly increased economic nationalism.

"The basic assumptions that underpin current global policy, most importantly the assumption that free trade is good, and protectionism bad, are changing with Trump's election, and with Brexit.

"For the UK, it is imperative we keep an open mind about the Trump administration's economic policy and ambitions.

"Political and business leaders, and trade unions, need to ask themselves this: what if he does bring back the manufacturing jobs to America?

"What if the interests of the rustbelt workers, who had their lives turned upside down by cheap imports from China, are prioritised over the ideological beliefs of Davos habitues?

"Conventional economic orthodoxy says that free trade benefits all countries, if not all workers in those countries. Yet is this really true?"

He continued: "You can make a cogent case that the debt-fuelled growth of China has given Chinese corporations who receive forms of hidden state subsidies an unfair advantage in Western markets.

"Indeed Trump used the export of manufacturing jobs to China as a devastating political weapon.

"Now those international trade agreements Donald Trump is ripping up with gusto have also been the focus of opposition by organised labour, and for good reason: they also prohibit states from protecting workers.

"For the UK to ignore the early signs of a global reformation of international trading arrangements would be a mistake. For one, if there is to be a benefit to Brexit, many gains can be seen in domestic procurement."

Yesterday (January 27) shadow Welsh secretary, Stevens walked away from the front benches declaring that she is a "passionate European" and saying that Theresa May was leading the country into a "brutal Brexit".

Tulup Siddiq had previously quit saying that the backbenches was where she would be able to better fight May's Brexit plans.