Lisa Nandy: It’s undemocratic to leave no deal off the ballot paper

As the dust settles on Labour’s announcement this week, major problems emerge. The first is the belief that you can game the system from a desk in Westminster to get the outcome you want. When significant numbers of voters want to leave without a deal at all, a “choice” between May’s deal or remain is not democratic. MPs rightly want to avoid no deal, but to pretend we can settle “the will of the people” when a major, popular option is simply left off the ballot paper treats people as if they are stupid. They aren’t. Why aren’t we learning?

The second problem is the message this decision sends to the wider Labour party. Apparently, you can have more impact on Labour policy by leaving the party than by staying in it. For a political party that seeks to govern effectively that is just not sustainable. Above all, none of these elite power-plays deal with the reality already upon us. In towns across Britain, the ongoing uncertainty is already costing jobs. There has been no effort to build consensus for a referendum in parliament, let alone the public. As a short-term tactic it may help the party through a difficult week, but look through a longer lens and the future looks much more fraught than it did a week ago, for us and more importantly for the country.

• Lisa Nandy is Labour MP for Wigan

David Lammy: This is the beginning of Labour uniting the country again

Over the past three years, thousands of jobs have been lost, hate crimes have rocketed, and real problems such as the housing crisis and NHS underfunding have been neglected while the British political class has been paralysed by Brexit. Labour’s decision to finally listen to its members, young people and what is now a majority of the country could be the first step to putting this sorry saga in British history to an end.

A people’s vote is now inevitable, as well as essential. As it stands, just 31 days before Brexit day and after three years of argument, Theresa May’s deal remains deeply unpopular among MPs, and there is broad consensus against the economic catastrophe of crashing out of the EU without a deal, with government ministers prepared to resign imminently if a no-deal Brexit is not taken off the table.

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The reason consensus has not been reached is that no form of Brexit can live up to the fantasy Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson sold to voters in 2016. The only way to break the logjam and get a clear mandate in favour of a real Brexit deal, or indeed to remain in the EU, is to put the question to the people.

Labour now has an opportunity to become the champion of hope and inclusion by proudly and unashamedly becoming pro-European again. After years of lies and false promises, we can be the party that tells the truth. We can offer to fix the inequalities that created the dissatisfaction that caused the result in 2016. We can stand up for workers’ interests, not patronise them by scapegoating Brussels. We can argue that free movement is an opportunity, not an imposition.

Just as we have now started to bring the party together again after years of division, we can do the same for Britain. We can come together again.

• David Lammy is Labour MP for Tottenham

Caroline Flint: It betrays our election promise – and our leave voters

Call me old-fashioned, but as a democratic socialist I believe politics is about principles. The “democratic” part matters. You make election promises. You keep them. After 22 years in parliament, I thought that was how democracy worked. Straightforward, honest politics.

Labour’s first 2017 general election leaflet stated: “Theresa May wants to make this election a re-run of the EU referendum. But the decision to leave has already been settled by the British people.” Labour’s manifesto Brexit chapter was called “Negotiating Brexit” not “Stopping Brexit”. It began: “Labour accepts the referendum result and a Labour government will put the national interest first.”

Remainers and leavers alike voted for a Labour manifesto which stated: “‘No deal’ is the worst possible deal for Britain.” At conference, Jeremy Corbyn offered to discuss a reasonable deal. Not “the perfect deal”, not only “a Labour deal”, a reasonable deal.

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Encouraged by Labour MPs, union leaders and Jeremy met the PM more than once. Why bother if compromise was impossible? If you never intended to reach an agreement?

Labour’s conference motion promised to “support all options remaining on the table”. Why opt for a second referendum when an improved deal is still within reach? Not a “botched deal”, but a deal worth pursuing.

Safeguarding workers’ rights; resolving the Northern Ireland border; securing a transition period; guaranteeing EU citizens’ rights and giving certainty to businesses. This is what is on the table. A second referendum offers only more delay; and a nation divided once more.

Ditching our election pledge means spurning every Labour leave voter. Our working-class bedrock. Four out of five Tory-Labour marginals, Labour’s 25 most vulnerable constituencies and Peterborough and Newport West – at least one of which faces a byelection – are all leave-voting seats. Do we ignore them, or honour our election promises? I know where I stand.

• Caroline Flint is Labour MP for Don Valley