A general election would be right way to break deadlock

Anyone seeing Westminster from the outside could be forgiven for being angry, bemused or anxious. As a former MP, I struggle to comprehend quite how our politicians have brought the country to this. We didn’t have to be where we are now.

It all started after the referendum when Leavers who had thought about what to do next found themselves outside government. There they were joined by David Cameron, who had told civil servants not to plan for a Leave win he thought would never happen then resigned when it did. Not an auspicious start.

Negotiations were hampered by bad decisions. The misjudged 2017 election campaign weakened the Government at a critical stage. No 10 became a bunker, refused outside advice and settled on the Chequers plan, drawn up behind the backs of the Brexit ministers. The plan was to bounce the Cabinet into supporting the deal then to run the clock down to March 29 so time would run out for every other option and MPS would have a choice between the Chequers deal, no deal or no Brexit. It would be churlish not to recognise the difficulties the Prime Minister faced; especially in delivering a Brexit to meet the expectations of Leave voters under a wafer-thin majority borrowed from the DUP.

If the referendum had been a general election, Leave would have had 408 seats with 242 for Remain. But 483 MPS in Parliament voted Remain.

To get any kind of credible Brexit deal through a Remain-dominated Parliament would always be hard.

But Downing Street hasn’t been helped by its insensitivity to Leavers. Leave MPS have been marginalised

MPS gave this decision to the people and must stop trying to overturn a result they dislike

and the Prime Minister’s Remaindominated team misjudged the sentiment and concerns of Leave voters outside the South. It explains why No 10 has a problem of trust.

Brexit runs like a fault line through the two main parties, dividing them into Leave and Remain camps. The Conservatives are the more united – 75 per cent of constituencies voted Leave and 90 per cent of Leave-voting MPS are Tory; 70 per cent of Conservative voters are Leavers and membership is overwhelmingly pro-brexit.

Labour is more divided. About 60 per cent of Labour’s seats voted Leave but the same proportion of Labour voters and almost all party members support Remain. Labour cannot form a government without holding on to Leave-voting constituencies and that is why Labour struggles to define a clear Brexit policy and is unable to support a second referendum. The Tories lose seats if a successor to Ukip emerges but lose few to a centrist pro-remain party like the Independent Group.

The opposite is so for Labour. The risk of Jeremy Corbyn in No 10 has so far provided sufficient glue to keep the Conservatives together and it makes Norway or any softer Brexit unlikely.

But the vote to “take no deal off the table” removed the best chance of any improvement to the Prime Minister’s deal. There is a lot wrong with it but there is much that Leave supporters can hold their nose and accept. The biggest problem is the backstop and the leverage it gives the EU in the next stage of negotiations. Downing Street’s record gives little hope it will deliver the best possible Brexit. While we may not be able to choose another deal, we can choose another team.

We need to get this right. MPS gave this decision to the people and must stop trying to overturn a result they dislike. MPS are the reason for deadlock and a general election, not a second referendum, would be the right way to break it. We are out of time and the choice may be between no deal and revoking Article 50. So, in order to respect the referendum, MPS have little option but to vote to leave with no deal.