The Tory plan for leaving is now increasingly clear. Britain will be “free” from Europe and we will jettison ourselves as a tax haven, floating desperately across the Atlantic, reaching for a friend. We’ll be out of the single market, out of the customs union and free movement will be stopped. The economic risks are huge—and our public services are at threat from a government willing to engage in a race to the bottom on corporate taxation. The NHS is suffering badly now—imagine what it will look like if the government cuts taxes even further and has even less money to spend.

 

Such a vision for Britain’s future is truly chilling, but it is not inevitable—not if if those who oppose it work together to prevent it from occurring. There’s no doubt that the Tories benefit from rushing through the triggering of Article 50 with as little dissent as possible. They’ve somehow morphed a narrow referendum result in favour of leaving the EU into an overwhelming mandate to leave the world’s biggest trading zone and curtail our social and environmental protections.

 

An unconditional vote to trigger Article 50, given these plans, endorses the Tory vision. That’s why it’s such a great shame that the Labour Party has capitulated to the Conservatives in just that way. By tabling amendments to the Bill they hope to safeguard against an extreme Brexit, but by guaranteeing support for triggering Article 50 under any circumstances—by means of a three-line whip—they undermine their best chance of getting concessions.

 

I know that the decision on how to vote on Article 50 isn’t easy for some Labour frontbenchers. But, with the leadership looking unlikely to budge on its support for an unconditional triggering of Article 50, it does fall on Labour MPs to defy the whips and vote against the government.

 

I will not be capitulating to the Tories over Brexit—and will vote against triggering Article 50 in the spring. That’s why I have tabled a reasoned amendment to the Bill alongside MPs from Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party—I urge others to support it. I have also tabled a series of other amendments seeking to protect our environment, ensure the British people have a further say through a “ratification referendum” and force the government to publish plans for transitional arrangements.

 

As the co-leader of a Party which stands for environmental, social and economic justice, I will not support a government offering no assurances to EU nationals living in Britain, threatening the funding of our public services and planning to throw us off the Brexit cliff edge by ending our membership of the single market and customs union. I urge Labour to rethink their three-line whip on this most crucial of votes, and encourage their MPs to think very carefully before joining the Tories in the voting lobby.