The Prime Minister needs to go on the rhetorical offensive. With the Lords sabotaging Brexit, and Remainer ministers scenting blood, Theresa May must look to the public, delivering a powerful speech to break the deadlock and reject the protectionist customs union for good.

Being inside the customs union costs Britain billions of pounds each year. UK shoppers overpay for non-European imports, due to common external tariffs protecting inefficient producers elsewhere in the EU. Four fifths of these revenues go to Brussels. They’re particularly steep on clothing, food and footwear, hitting poorer UK shoppers hardest – which is unfair. To divert “money we send the EU to the NHS instead”, we must be outside the customs union. Stick that on the side of a bus.

Staying in the customs union after Brexit means charging EU tariffs with no say in setting them – the “vassal state” argument. This is the ghastly deal foisted on Turkey – an unproven partner state trying to join the EU. Britain is not Turkey – Brussels is trying to keep us and our money in.

Customs union membership also means implicitly accepting EU regulations, de facto single market membership. That makes it doubly impossible for Britain to cut trade deals with other nations, one of the main Brexit benefits. Dim Parliamentarians say the customs union is an elegant compromise, but it’s the worst of both worlds. A compromise like leaping halfway over a chasm. And it makes a mockery of the June 2016 vote to take back control of our laws, borders and money.