And so, it comes to pass that Brexit is not a British liberation strategy. It is vassalisation; the annihilation of our equal-rights status as a European country. The dawn of a new age of British colonialism. But this time round it is Britain that is the colony. This is where the Tories’ 40-year war with Europe has landed us. Brexiters who thought their leave vote was going to set Britain back on course to rule the waves should be feeling humiliated.

The Tories have not delivered their promised victory over the EU, and Brexit has become a Great British rout. Sunny utopian leave has vanished in the turbulent storms of exit reality. Theresa May has been humiliated in the latest summit negotiations, not because the European Union is being nasty, but because her own mob are fighting each other. Her arbitrary Alice in Wonderland red lines were an ill-fated attempt to placate Brexiteers within her own ranks rather than a serious attempt to get the best deal for our people. Her focus is firmly on saving her skin from a Brexiteer mutiny threatening to topple her and now she wants us to cede British sovereignty, parity and self-determination to stay in the customs union and the single market for an extended transition phase after Brexit. It looks increasingly likely that in all but name we will remain in the EU until at least the end of 2021. Who in their right minds would want to remain a member of a club, pay its fees, abide by its rules but give up the right to have any say in making them?

May has led her cabinet into a hole and their inability to tell it straight to Britain means they can’t stop digging

Churchill must be turning in his grave. Far from Brexit being a finest hour, May is surrendering control, just to retain what we already have with existing EU membership. Calls for the people to get the final say on the deal is now the equivalent of the May 1940 call to the public for the flotilla of ships – any ships – to save the British Expeditionary Force from the beach at Dunkirk.

As a trades unionist, negotiating for workers’ rights is my lifeblood. But never have I seen a negotiating hand played worse. May has led her cabinet into a hole and their inability to tell it straight to the British people means they can’t stop digging. British people crave straight-talking, and they crave a politics in which politicians treat them as grown-ups. Truth-tellers are respected. It’s the liars who can’t be stomached.

So with an extended transition deal set to turn Britain from EU nation state to yoked province, it falls to the people to rescue the country from Tory idiocy. But Labour, too, must rise to what is now becoming a national liberation struggle. The Brexit that was promised to leavers is not remotely possible. The backlash against May as this truth sinks in will finish her. For those of us committed to a Labour government, this is now Jeremy Corbyn’s moment. He can be prime minister-in-waiting if he leads the new battle of ideas for a different kind of Brexit.

Vassal state is not an option Labour can tolerate. Absolutely no one voted to be a colony. It is as ridiculous a political choice as it is unnecessary. The Tories are the party of the binary – we had a yes or no referendum and then a deal or no-deal Brexit. This is no way to do democratic politics. Labour’s position of keeping all options on the table subverts the Tories’ immature binaries – and enables a variety of democratic choices to prevail, including a popular vote on the outcome of negotiations and even a remain option should facts compel us to it.

Any Labour MP who votes for this Brexit deal deserves to be deselected | Michael Chessum Read more

What is now being offered makes staying berthed inside the EU look like a safe harbour. And Corbyn’s wait-and-see approach has ushered him to the threshold of government. The Tory shambles in which we go from EU nation state with full rights to irrelevant outpost should now be fully opposed. Retaining full EU voting membership until we have negotiated the future trading relationship with our European partners must become a Labour manifesto commitment. This won’t be easy as the EU itself has made leaving a red line for the start of negotiations about the future trading relationship. But the ace up Labour’s sleeve is the fact that we have not ruled out a popular vote once negotiations have been concluded. In the absence of a general election before 29 March, Labour must use parliamentary procedures to counter the government’s policy. To maintain the continued liberation of Britain now falls to Labour. We are ready.

• Manuel Cortes is general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association