If we want a final say on the Brexit deal, we need voices that are not just male, stale and pale

Though ex-party leaders and their friends often offer interesting insights, they are simply the wrong people to be heading up a campaign that must gain people's trust – and change their minds, too

The public is recognising that the UK's fortunes are now in the grip of a feeble government being held to ransom by hardliners (EPA)

With the government in chaos and parliament in gridlock, the case for a vote on the final Brexit deal is growing every day.

Since The Independent launched their Final Say campaign, more than 280,000 people have signed their petition – and that’s on top of the nearly 240,000 who’ve already backed the People’s Vote campaign.

The public is recognising that the UK's fortunes are now in the grip of a feeble government being held to ransom by hardline backbenchers.

They know our current trajectory is grim – with the chance of a no-deal Brexit growing, and the best-case-scenario trade deal set to be a significant downgrade from the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy now.

And they know, in light of all that’s happened since 2016, they deserve a final say on our relationship with the European Union – but this time things must be different.

The time couldn't be more ripe for opposing this Tory Brexit, yet so far there is still little sign that most Remainers truly understand the nature of the challenge we face – and the need to avoid the mistakes of the past.

This couldn’t be better illustrated than by the phalanx of men who are fronting efforts to keep Britain in the EU. Though ex-party leaders and their friends often offer interesting insights, they are simply the wrong people to be heading up a campaign that must gain people's trust, and change their minds too.

We should be in no doubt that the centrism of the past has been electorally slayed, and rejected, by young voters in particular. We need new voices in our campaign.

If we're serious about staying in the EU, we must stop repeating the mistakes of the referendum – and start thinking about why people voted to leave and how they might come to a different conclusion now. We’re running out of time to protect young people’s futures.

Stage one should be a gear shift away from an elite-led campaign. So for the next few months, at least, let's have a moratorium on male ex-politicians taking to the airwaves as leaders on this issue. The Remain campaign needs to find new faces.

Instead we should draw on the likes of Our Future Our Choice and For Our Future’s Sake: inspirational groups who put young people’s voices and concerns front and centre.

We must build on their work and organise in communities so that there is a dialogue with Leavers and Remainers, one that's concerned with healing the divisions that have emerged and with growing awareness of how to secure meaningful change for the better, not just kick against the establishment.

Stage two must be a commitment to seriously tackling the underlying issues which fuelled Brexit. We must reflect on the deep reasons for the result in 2016.

This cannot be done by the liberal old guard either, because it means confronting the forces that have systematically marginalised people in the processes of neoliberal globalisation.

Stage three must mean building on the cross-party work against Brexit that's already taking place, and that means engaging the Labour leadership. We should be brutally honest – Jeremy Corbyn could change everything.

In 2016, Another Europe is Possible asked Corbyn to join a left-wing, anti-austerity, pro-EU platform alongside myself and colleagues from all of the progressive parties. He refused.

But if he's serious about doing all he can to protect public services, about being in it for the many not the few, and about a better future for our young people, he should now do so.

The challenge to those of us who want to stand up to the Tories' disastrous Brexit goes beyond a final vote on the deal and our daily resistance: it must mean imagining a better Britain within a reformed EU.

Caroline Lucas is MP for Brighton Pavilion and co-leader of the Green Party