Today’s speech on Brexit was yet another hopeless attempt by the prime minister to mask the fact that the government has absolutely no strategy when it comes to the most defining issue facing our country for decades.

It was a mixture of vague fantasies, and toothless threats to our nearest neighbours. Britain needs friends more than ever at the moment, and Theresa May has succeeded in uniting the rest of Europe against her, guaranteeing an even harder path for the United Kingdom in its negotiations.

The irony of May praising Margaret Thatcher’s legacy was palpable

May has decided – before she has even entered into negotiations with the EU – that the only decisive act of her premiership will be to tear the UK out of the single market. She has given up on the most important part of the Brexit negotiations at the first hurdle, allowing herself to be taken hostage by those in her party who are the Tory equivalent of Momentum – fundamentalists hell bent on taking their party away from the mainstream. When it comes to British prosperity and British democracy, she is waving the white flag from the White cliffs of Dover.

In doing so, she has confirmed that Britain is heading for a hard Brexit. She has made the choice to do massive damage to the British economy.

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Clearly, the prime minister has the energy to fight a cynical court case against parliamentary democracy, but not to stand up for Britain’s place in a market that her own cabinet have spent their careers stressing is fundamental to our economic wellbeing and, with it, our social cohesion.

The irony of May praising Margaret Thatcher’s legacy was palpable. The single market is, after all, a UK invention spearheaded by Thatcher. It has allowed Britain to prosper and become one of the strongest economies in the world, and given people the ability to travel, study and do business across Europe. Remarkably, May believes that no deal is better than a bad deal – contrary to the widely felt views of the business community, not to mention all the young people whose future she has just jeopardised.

Last month’s Richmond Park byelection – won by Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney, fighting on the issue of Europe – should have proved to the prime minister that hard Brexit was not what the British public voted for. The resignation of MP Stephen Phillips from his Sleaford and North Hykeham seat should also have demonstrated the level of dissatisfaction felt from even her own benches that what was on the ballot paper was not the type of Brexit we are now heading for.

Today’s speech was yet another vain attempt by the prime minister to rewrite history. She claimed that people voted to leave the single market. They did not. In fact, polls show that 90% of voters want to remain part of the single market.

What is certain is that a hard Brexit will leave the UK less socially and economically well-off. Though the pound rallied today, it had earlier slumped to a fresh 31-year low in glum anticipation of the prime minister’s speech – begging the question once again of where the government will find the money to fund the extra £350m to the NHS that we were promised as part of the Brexit package.

Was the vote on the 23 June really a vote to transform our economic model into that of a corporate tax haven, as was threatened this week by the chancellor, Philip Hammond? No, it was not. It is Nigel Farage’s vision of Britain’s relationship with Europe and the rest of the world. A vision that will have an extremely damaging impact on our standing and relationship with our neighbours.

The new Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, himself commented that May’s words could have come straight from a Ukip party conference speech. Farage and Nuttall might like to convince themselves that the referendum was an endorsement of their nationalist, populist politics, but that is an injustice to most of the British people who voted leave. Pursuing Ukip’s warped vision will not only have severe consequences on our economy, it will also severely damage our standing in the world.

Our panel’s verdict on Theresa May’s Brexit speech Read more

A reckless exit from the single market was not on the ballot paper last June, yet the prime minister has made it clear that she will deny the people a vote on the final deal. This is incredibly disappointing for anybody who believes that democracy matters. Rather than a democratic decision by the people of the country, what she wants instead is a stitch-up by politicians in Westminster. The public voted for departure, and they should therefore be given a vote on the destination. This is a theft of democracy, to take Britain out of the world’s most lucrative market against the wishes of the electorate.

This is why it is so vital that the British public is given a choice at the end of this process, and it is why my party will continue to argue and amend, in every way possible, to ensure that this is the case. Only the Liberal Democrats are fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united; we are the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government.

Whether you voted to leave or to remain last June, you deserve to have your voice heard on what happens next. Britain’s prosperity depends on it.