Labour’s incoherent position on article 50

Theresa May's hurried timetable and Jeremy Corbyn's three-line whip are pushing Britain towards an action with disastrous consequences

Steve Richards (Labour's Brexit chaos is now so open it threatens to tear the party apart, 26 January) says Labour is hopelessly split on Europe. In fact, the Labour leadership's position is all too clear: to cave in to the Conservative agenda of trashing our economy and threatening the opportunities of our young people.

Even Keir Starmer, Brexit spokesperson and billed as a voice of relative Labour sanity, suggests Britain should leave the single market and, even more quixotically, lauds Theresa May for avoiding a hard Brexit. In tabloid parlance, you couldn't make it up. New studies suggest that Brexit could cost Britain up to £200bn over 15 years, while Tories are increasingly emboldened to argue that they will use the economic disaster of Brexit to shrink the state - causing massive cuts in public services.

Labour seems to be saying it will vote for article 50 even if all its amendments are defeated. Labour should get behind Liberal Democrat calls to vote against unless the people are given a say on the final deal. Labour needs to find its mettle and join with us to provide real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government, or we will have hard Brexit - and for that future generations will not forgive them.

Alistair Carmichael MP

Lib Dem member of Brexit select committee