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The public were promised that Brexit would mean taking back control.

Instead, it has turned into a national humiliation.

All the promises of greater sovereignty and a swashbuckling UK negotiating new trade deals have turned to dust.

And one by one the advocates of those promises have resigned and walked away.

With the publication of the withdrawal agreement we can now see more clearly the reality of Brexit.

Instead of taking back control it turns out to be the biggest voluntary surrender of sovereignty in living memory.

The UK – the fifth biggest economy in the world – is faced with signing up to the rules which govern our economy with no say over them - and paying tens of billions of pounds for the privilege.

The only argument the Prime Minister can come up with for the Agreement is that it was the best we could get and the alternative of no deal is worse.

The Government has tried to tell parliament and the country that this agreement must be accepted because no deal would be an economic disaster and would mean a hard border in Northern Ireland.

No deal certainly would be a disaster but the idea that it has to be this agreement or no deal at all is a false choice.

Parliament would have the opportunity to halt a slide into a no deal departure and, indeed, the Prime Minister herself has admitted this when she said outside Downing St that “no Brexit” is now an option too.

She knows this deal satisfies neither Remainers nor Leavers.

For two years this has been a theoretical argument with various models being pitted against one another.

It’s not theory anymore.

Now we have an agreement which shows the reality of Brexit and exposes just how distant it is from the promises of its leading advocates.

I have never believed the measure of our country’s power is just about our degree of sovereignty.

Instead, I believe Britain’s power is magnified by the alliances we have with other countries.

But even on its own terms this agreement fails to meet the promises of sovereignty made by those who championed Brexit.

I know that many of my constituents voted for Brexit and I understand their anger at lack of opportunity and the sense that the economy was not working for them.

I passionately believe that areas like the one I represent need a better deal, with more educational opportunities, better jobs, higher pay, more housing and a bigger stake in the future of the country.

This agreement gives them none of that and I do not believe many of them voted for an outcome like this.

(Image: PA)

The Labour Party was not founded to pursue a course of right wing nationalism which will damage our economy and disempower us politically.

The Prime Minister will now put her agreement to Parliament but I do not believe the only choice facing the country is accepting this agreement or the disaster of no deal.

Such a choice is an embarrassment to our democracy and would be a humiliation for the UK.

The people made the initial decision to leave the EU in the referendum.

It is the people who should have the final say on this, this time with a choice of accepting what we now know to be the reality of Brexit or, if they so choose, of staying in.

*Pat McFadden is Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East