The Labour party has a duty to speak out for all those alarmed by Theresa May’s strong-arm tactics for the sake of the country

It is hard to see the wood for the trees, so complex and tortuous has the Brexit endgame become. But stand back for a moment, if you can, and a truly astonishing vista opens up. It is of a Conservative prime minister purposefully threatening the people of Britain with all kinds of catastrophic consequences unless they and their elected representatives pipe down and do what she demands.

Day after day, as 29 March approaches, dire warnings proliferate about the disruptive, dangerous impact of the no-deal Brexit that Theresa May refuses to rule out. NHS chiefs say that hospitals could run out of life-saving drugs. Top company directors, the CBI and the Bank of England warn of gathering economic storm clouds. A Brexit emergency “crisis command centre” is being created.

If there is no deal, EU officials warn, about five million British and EU citizens will be left in indefinite limbo, with their rights to live, work and even drive enveloped in confusion. The vital automotive industry, already struggling with declining sales and investment, could be tipped over the edge. British export manufacturers are rightly terrified of Liam Fox’s ignorant claptrap about the benefits of zero-tariff free markets.

Hard Tory Brexiters accused Remainers of running a “Project Fear” during the 2016 referendum. Yet what May and her economically illiterate ministers are doing right now really is an attempt to exploit all these accumulating, deliberately hyped fears. They seek to scare the British people into obedience to their view. Their crude message: back our hopelessly flawed withdrawal agreement – or else.

May’s excursions to Belfast, Dublin and Brussels last week were a waste of taxpayers’ money – and another intentional waste of time. The prime minister is engaged in an ever-more reckless game of last-minute brinkmanship with parliament and the EU. It beggars belief that, having insisted on yet more meetings, she offered no new ideas on the Irish backstop.

Suggestions that the backstop could be time-limited or circumvented by yet-to-be-invented border technology have been rejected repeatedly by the EU – but that does not faze her. May blithely assured Northern Ireland’s citizens that she would never allow a hard border. Yet she knows full well that her “red lines”, unless discarded, render one inevitable.

These have become familiar tactics. May promises one thing to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s hard Brexiters, another to Labour Leavers, another to EU leaders, and yet another to the Democratic Unionists. She stretches the process out day by day, stoking fears, playing all sides against the middle, enduring crisis votes, parliamentary defeats and negotiating rebuffs, and all the while watching the article 50 clock.

Her stubborn hope is that time will run out and parliament, spooked by looming catastrophe, will at the last gasp back her wholly inadequate withdrawal deal – and thereby salvage her sorry premiership.

May’s irresponsible scaremongering and brinkmanship must not succeed – and the large majority that opposes this Tory Brexit – or do not want any form of Brexit at all – is now counting on Labour to stop her. And here is another fundamental point often obscured by the Brexit forest. Jeremy Corbyn, as leader of the official main opposition, has a duty to speak for all those across the country alarmed by May’s cynical, strong-arm tactics. This is not about party advantage. It’s about the national interest, for which Corbyn must now speak up.

Corbyn was right to put forward Labour’s alternative ideas in a five-point letter to May. Would that he had done so much sooner. Yet when it is clear that May will not embrace Labour’s ideas, for example staying inside a customs union – and it is pretty obvious already that she will not – Corbyn must, finally, accept the logical consequences.

Labour cannot compromise further, nor be seen to be facilitating a Tory Brexit. The party will pay a very high price if, in a bid to appease a handful of pro-Leave constituencies, it ignores the wishes and interests of a majority of party members and what the latest polls show suggest is a modest but growing pro-Remain majority nationwide. The inescapable, logical consequence of May’s refusal to compromise, and parliament’s inability to agree an alternative, is a second referendum.

Corbyn’s leadership is under withering fire. He is attacked, again, for a perceived failure to effectively combat antisemitism within the party, in the case of Wavertree MP Luciana Berger. His support for Venezuela’s discredited socialist experiment has drawn more fire. He faces threats from a number of MPs to quit the party altogether. And on Brexit, to date, he has been, at best, ambivalent about following stated conference policy and, at worst, duplicitous.

Now is Corbyn’s chance to redeem himself and turn the tables on his critics and May. Now, for the sake of this country’s future, is the moment to set aside personal feelings and outdated ideological prejudices. Now is the time for Corbyn to show the kind of inclusive, national leadership that is essential if he is ever to occupy Downing Street.

As the prospects recede for achieving a Brexit outcome that is anything short of calamitous, Labour must reject Tory fearmongering and commit to backing a fresh vote on our relationship with Europe.