Theresa May’s Brexit is dead – a Final Say on the deal is the only route out of the chaos

The prime minister clearly doesn’t have the numbers to get her deal through parliament. Only a public vote can now break the political deadlock

You’d be forgiven for missing this amid the political posturing – but parliament is finally united. Almost no one can support the Brexit deal.

For the first time, over the past 24 hours I’ve found myself agreeing with the Brexit zealots when they say this deal is a disaster.

After two years, negotiators have come up with six-and-a-half meaningless pages on our future relationship with our nearest neighbours – published alongside the draft withdrawal agreement.

Those six-and-a-half pages just four words for each of the 595 days since Article 50 was triggered. At this rate, there’s simply no way we’ll reach an agreement before the end of the 2020 deadline.

May’s plan to give up our say over EU rules and force us to keep following them isn’t just a last-resort backstop. If we go ahead with this deal, it’s inevitable. In an attempt to take back control of our laws, the prime minister has given up our seat at the decision-making table.

But worse than that, she’s put the people she claims to represent at real risk. Theresa May is perfectly capable of basic mathematics – she knows she doesn’t have the numbers to get her deal through parliament.

The extreme Brexiteers are sharpening their pitchforks and pushing us towards the no-deal cliff edge. But they too can’t command a majority for this disastrous prospect.

The facts on the ground are now in plain view. With no prospect of passing this deal, and no chance of no-deal being supported by MPs, we are truly in a political gridlock. And that gridlock has real risks – which will be shouldered not by MPs in Westminster, but by the people we seek to represent. Job losses. Businesses facing collapse. The NHS staffing crisis exacerbated. Environmental protections torn up.

The truth that’s hardly whispered by MPs on either side is that we face a real possibility of making decisions whose consequences will be felt for generations to come. This is a matter of conscience.

No one ever voted for this chaos. The public voted for drastic change in the hope of securing a better future. The government has betrayed the will of the people.

But the prime minister offered a glimmer of hope after the cabinet meeting last night. She finally admitted that there is an alternative.

“The choice before us is clear: this deal ... leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all,” she said.

Today, Westminster has been in meltdown. Brexiteers have openly threatened the prime minister, cabinet ministers have resigned and leaders on all sides are competing for air time. MPs are making a parlour game of this make-or-break decision.

With our constituents’ futures at stake, this is not the time for party politics.

I implore my colleagues on all sides to use our unity against the Brexit deal to deliver what the people want. The first polls since the deal emerged show increasing demand for democracy. We must allow the public to take back control and grant them a People’s Vote.

Now Brexit’s chaotic reality is clear, they deserve a chance to choose something better.

That doesn’t mean turning the clock back to 2016 and pretending this was all a bad dream. Those who voted Leave because they believe the status quo is intolerable were right – it is. We are a country of grotesque inequalities. That’s why politicians need to work now to transform our economy and restore the health of our planet. Leaving the EU would make that much harder to achieve.

A Final Say is a chance to put our country back together – and at this point, it’s the only feasible way forward.

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