It is time to draw the first phase of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to a close, and in order to do that we have to agree a deal with the EU that gets us on to negotiating our future trading relationship.

The country also now desperately needs its MPs to think about something other than Brexit, and its government to focus on the many other pressing issues facing us.

It is undoubtedly true that the best way to stop a no-deal outcome to Brexit in March is for MPs to agree a negotiated withdrawal agreement with the EU. But that has to be an agreement that gains the support of a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Tuesday night’s votes showed that a majority of MPs can be assembled if the concerns about the Northern Ireland backstop in the draft withdrawal agreement are addressed.

Until last week I didn’t think that such a majority could be found. But, as with any difficult talks, if a few key people from either side of the debate can be encouraged to move from their entrenched positions and discuss the issues properly then a common understanding can be reached. And on the thorny topic of Brexit, so it has proved in the Conservative party this week.

The prime minister needs a plan to put back to the EU, supported by Tuesday’s vote. And that is the plan drafted by a group of Conservative MPs with very different views on Brexit. Our plan, now referred to as Plan C or the “Malthouse compromise”, involves a new backstop that is acceptable indefinitely, but which incentivises us all to reach a new future relationship and ensures there is no need for a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The implementation phase would be extended until no later than December 2021. And it allows the UK to negotiate a new future relationship with our partners and allies in the EU without prejudice to the particular form of trading relationship.

In the event that cannot be agreed then there would be a “triple safety net”, including continuing to make the offer set out above, along with bilateral cooperation on security, and offering to pay our annual net contributions and secure a standstill period until no later than the end of December 2021, with a WTO-compliant trading relationship from the end of the initial implementation period if the future relationship has not been agreed. In all cases, the rights of EU citizens would be unilaterally guaranteed.

There are parts of this I don’t like and parts that my most pro-Brexit colleagues don’t like. But we can agree on it as a whole plan. And that is the point. Any negotiation involves compromise and no one will get everything they want. For too long it has been too easy to say what we don’t like and to expect the other side to accede to everything we want. That isn’t sustainable and if we carry on like this in the House of Commons then any last remaining patience that the UK electorate has for its MPs will disappear. It shouldn’t be rocket science that we need to achieve a government majority so that the government can get its major policy through parliament and get on with running the country on the other side.

With a clear British ask on the backstop, the EU can be in no doubt about what the UK government needs from it in order to get an agreement over the line. It is time for hatchets to be buried, so we can move on from 23 June 2016.

• Nicky Morgan is the Conservative MP for Loughborough

• This piece was amended to clarify the terms of the proposed Malthouse deal relating to the WTO

