Anna Turley: May’s deal has failed. Now let’s back a People’s Vote

Finally, after two-and-a-half years, there is finally one thing we can be absolutely certain about when it comes to Brexit: Theresa May’s deal is a failure. The government has been heavily defeated in the most important vote, beyond questions of war and peace, to be held in the House of Commons in the last fifty years. This was a reassertion of democracy and the people’s right to govern, through their elected representatives, over an arrogant executive determined to lock our country into a pathway to failure.

For Labour, this moment is a great opportunity, but also a great challenge. If we are to be true to those who elected us, who look to us for leadership and hope, and if we are to be true to our values as the people’s party, we have to act with urgency and decisiveness at this moment of national crisis.

Jeremy Corbyn’s tabling of the motion of no confidence in the government is a strong and positive sign. After the abortive manoeuvres before Christmas, it is good to see the frontbench taking the most direct route when challenging the government over its failures.

But we should be realistic about what is now going to happen. Much as we desperately need a change of government, there is very little prospect of either the DUP, never mind Conservatives, voting to bring the government down. And no one expects Theresa May to do what any of her predecessors would have done in the circumstances and tender her resignation.

Labour cannot afford to let such an outcome look like a victory for the government, and that is why it must only be the start of a concerted and determined campaign to press for a People’s Vote on Brexit. This would give the public back their right to decide between our current deal as EU members or some form of Brexit.

Our members and supporters will not understand if we hesitate at this moment of crisis, nor is it acceptable to to engage in another round of the game of Fantasy Brexit. The reality is clear – the only Brexit deal that will ever be on offer from the EU is the one that is on the table now.

As a Labour MP who represents a seat that did vote to Leave in 2016, I do not buy the argument that Labour would in some way be betraying working class voters if it backs a People’s Vote. For a start, this argument misrepresents what happened in the referendum. People in work, and trade unionists in particular, voted to stay – though it is obviously true that many working class voters, especially those cut off from the world of work and let down by a crumbling system of social provision and a welfare state that treats them as enemies, voted to leave. However, working class turnout was decisively lower than middle class: a majority of working class voters voted to leave, but the majority of those who voted to leave were middle class.

Nor did my duty to be honest with voters didn’t end on 23 June 2016. I said then that leaving the EU would be bad for my constituency, but I voted to trigger Article 50 because it was right to see if a Brexit deal could be found that met the promises that were made. Now it is plain as day that no such deal is on offer, my responsibility to tell people exactly what I think is undiminished. Indeed it would be a moral failing on my part if I did anything else.

And you know what? When I go round my constituency that honesty is respected. A few – including some on the far right – might not like it when I say that the moment has come for the people to decide whether or not this deal matches up to what was promised, but across the constituency the majority of voters plainly agree this is right way to act. In the Westminster Village they might worry about what voters in places like Redcar think of a People’s Vote, but in Redcar itself nobody is afraid of being asked to give their view.

North London cannot be allowed to use the North East as their excuse for inaction at this crucial moment, when the country’s destiny hangs in the balance. We have had enough of being patronised by the capital as it is. Let’s do what we do best as a party, and take our case for membership of a reformed European Union out to the country in a People’s Vote.

Anna Turley is MP for Redcar.