The bad Brexit deal has nothing to do with Theresa May's gender. In fact Brexit has little to do with May at all

The truth is Brexit, as we were promised it in 2016, is a fantasy conjured up by those with very little regard for the facts. This remains the case almost three years later

Third time lucky, Theresa?

May’s Brexit tactic from the outset seems to have been to bludgeon and blackmail her bad deal through parliament. She now promises to wash her hands of the whole thing once it’s over. This might sound familiar, if you care to think of David Cameron.

As we approach the next meaningful vote, May faces many obstacles: the DUP and ERG remain opposed to the backstop for the moment and no principled MP should vote for this blindfold Brexit. Still, some are trying to claim that May is struggling to get her deal through because she is a woman. That sexism is standing in the way of Brexit.

As a representative of Women for a People’s Vote, I am about to say something extraordinarily “off brand”. For once, I don’t think this is about sexism. It is a crass appropriation of feminist politics to say so. Of course, we couldn’t deny that, like all women in politics, May has handled her fair share of sexist abuse and vitriol. Now, more than ever, death threats and hate mail are part and parcel of putting your head above the parapet. Or, just being a woman, in today’s politics.

In fact – like MP Rosie Duffield rightly explains – heightened misogyny directed towards women MPs seems to be a defining part of the Brexit mayhem. Anna Soubry cannot return to her home for fear of harassment. Others have been told not to go running or travel alone. And I have spoken to many female MPs receiving hideous death threats on a daily basis. As a young woman, politics looks less and less like a place I want to be.

What happened at Chequers last weekend – when 14 Conservatives rocked up to the prime minister’s estate in the middle of nowhere to decide on the next steps of Brexit – was a picture of parody. These white men are calling the shots. It is their sense of entitlement, handed out like oranges on the playing fields of Eton, that leads them to believe that they could do a better job than anyone else.

The truth is, it is not May’s gender that is blocking her deal. In fact, the continued failure of the deal has very little to do with May at all. The truth is Brexit, as we were promised it in 2016, is a fantasy conjured up by those with very little regard for the facts. This remains the case almost three years later.

Brexit was sold on the promise of sovereignty and democracy. Leavers were promised a prosperous economy with more money for public services, more of a say in the decisions that affect our everyday lives and taking back control from the elite political class. Consider that statement in reflection of Chequers for just a moment – frankly I think they’ve been had.

Instead, we are faced with a bad deal that leaves us beholden to this exhausting uncertainty for another decade while our public services crumble, xenophobia flourishes and women and minorities ultimately pick up the pieces once again.

Yes, May’s deal is a bad deal for women: it leaves our rights in the hands of the ERG, it will likely make us all poorer (which history tells us women will disproportionately shoulder the burden for) and, it doesn’t actually give us anything apart from decades more uncertainty and austerity.

What few vague promises we were given in the Political Declaration have now been stripped back by May’s latest desperate attempt to get her deal through. The Withdrawal Agreement alone is practically a blank cheque for the repeal of our rights. This alone is not to do with her gender.

Sexism affects other aspects of Brexit. It is sexism that means just 28 per cent of time discussing Brexit in parliament has gone to women. It is sexism that means there were more men called David or Steve than women at Chequers on Sunday and that are seven times as many men called John than women on the Leave Means Leave board. But the deal, that’s just plain old bad politics.

Simultaneously invoking democracy as a reason not to put the deal back to the people whilst potentially offering up your own resignation to blackmail MPs into voting a third time is a sign of how current politics is playing out. The sexist vitriol targeted towards women MPs at the moment is also a sign of these times. But for once, the two are not linked. If this government really cared about women or the will of the people they would put the decision back to the country. In a politics that looks more than ever like a back room boys’ club, a People’s Vote is the only way to have women’s voices heard.

Jenna Norman is campaign coordinator for Women for a People's Vote