Comment on tomorrow’s vote

May’s deal is dead. No deal dead too. Parliament has stymied itself in triangulated gridlock. The Government is incapable of resolving this.

After Tuesday’s vote we’ll be left with a powerless, rudderless Government and a zombie PM.

No proposed resolution will be popular with everyone. But the most rational in these circumstances must be to take this Tory-created chaos away from Parliament and back to the people for a final decision.

Of course, I wouldn’t have started from here. I always believed this project was unwise. I lost. But I respected the outcome of the 2016 referendum and was content to give the Government all the time and space needed to prove they could make a success of Brexit, as they said they would. I was of course sceptical. And now we can see what has become of their promises, their assurances it would be easy and of their planning.

It’s time for the rest of us to “take back control”, remove the Conservatives from the equation and to attempt to restore some order from this chaos. A chaos in which the Government has made the UK the laughingstock of the planet.

This is what happens when you allow another organ to rule your head…

Sadly I don’t think our local communities have been well served by this episode. This mess has also unleashed extreme right-wing and intolerant forces which we must not allow to triumph. I don’t think many people have changed their minds. Most have just become more entrenched. But I get the impression that the marginal majority for Leave has marginally swung in favour of Remain.

We need calm and rational people to lead the debate from now on. That means the Government must stand aside. They’ve presided over a monumental failure. They have no right to cling on to power.