Yesterday Barry Gardiner, Labour’s shadow trade secretary, said that Labour should oppose another referendum and pursue Brexit – despite the risk of a no deal or a bad deal. Today, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary responded by saying that a second referendum should remain “on the table”’. But despite their apparent differences, Keir Starmer and Barry Gardiner must agree on one thing: we should chart a course that delivers a Labour government and not a lasting Tory Brexit.

To make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister next year, Labour must back a public vote on the EU deal. The alternative is no deal, which would trigger a hard Brexit inflicted by a right-wing Tory prime minister between 2019 and 2022.

Yes, some in the Labour Party still believe that this incompetent, divided Conservative government only needs one more push to force a general election. “Surely”, they argue, after the resignations of the deputy prime minister, the home secretary, defence secretary, Brexit and foreign secretaries, the Tories can’t go on much longer. “It’s only a matter of time” before a Conservative leadership challenge from the right, a defeat in the Commons from the “centrists”, or a failure to agree a deal with Brussels will trigger a general election. Then, within months, Britain will elect a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn. Right? Wrong.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: “We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries – nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. “And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union.” Ms Jenkyn’s also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliament’s influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of “unbalanced” reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: “As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commission’s sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. “At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. “I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely.” He went on to argue that the “general direction” of Ms May’s policies would leave the UK “in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one”. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Davis’s main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as ”courageous and principled” by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: “I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on.” Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did “not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide”. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: “The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. “The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn.” PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: “I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. “I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10.” PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: “I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. “I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form.” Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

Another Tory crisis won’t trigger an election because the Fixed-term Parliaments Act requires two-thirds of MPs to vote for a general election for it to occur before 2022. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas and last time, in 2017, when the Tories called an election they were 20 points ahead in the polls but still ended up having to bankroll the DUP to cling on to power. They won’t make the same mistake again and, now that they’re behind in the polls, there’s no chance of an election. The Tories are braced for stormy seas ahead with no appetite to pass over the captaincy to Jeremy Corbyn.

With that in mind, the cunning plan of the Brexit fundamentalists is to lead a mutiny against Theresa May and to set sail for no-deal island. They calculate that Labour will vote in parliament against Theresa May’s compromised EU deal in October/November because it won’t satisfy Labour’s six tests. Therefore, by voting with Labour against the deal, the mutineers can defeat the government and deliver the no-deal outcome they crave.

Labour’s call for an immediate election will be met with deaf ears. Instead, there will be a Conservative leadership contest to decide who is best suited as Tory prime minister to implement a no-deal Brexit up until the 2022 election. The chaos of a no-deal Brexit – with food and medicine shortages – will require emergency measures to keep lorries and planes moving. Shrinking economic activity and trade will require a squeeze on “expensive” environmental standards and rights at work. So, soon we may all be flying on board Jacob Rees-Mogg’s time machine back to Charles Dickens’ Britain.

But there is another way. The public mood is shifting. Increasingly, Leave voters are saying Brexit is too costly, taking too long and is much more complicated than they were told and want a public vote on the deal – ideally “legitimised” with Labour’s support. They are losing faith in the false hope that Britain can strike better trade deals with the US and China than as part of Team EU. Already, 112 Leave constituencies have switched to Remain and a clear majority wants a public vote on the deal with the option of staying in the EU.

Labour’s 2018 conference will decide whether to support a public vote on the deal. If we do, public support will accelerate, Theresa May’s deal will be defeated in the Commons and Labour will be joined by the SNP and Tory Remainer MPs to grant one. If in the ensuing people’s vote the UK decides to stay in the EU, we would face a constitutional crisis: the government, elected on a mandate of being strong and stable as we left the EU, weak and unstable as we stayed in it, would have no legitimacy. This would require a general election that Labour can surely win if we have both backed the public vote on the deal and the campaign to stay in the EU.

So, Labour faces a clear choice: either a hard Brexit with a right-wing Tory government until 2022 inflicting untold damage on our economy, environment, and workers’ rights – or a public vote on the deal and the election of a Labour government. I have no doubt, when all is said and done, that Jeremy will put an early Labour government before a lasting Tory Brexit and support a public vote on the deal.