A trade deal would be good for our economy and good for our politics - helping heal the divisions exposed and exacerbated by Brexit. But neither reason outweighs the fundamental imperative of completing the Brexit process that the Withdrawal Agreement initiated. 1/4

We cannot trade our sovereignty for market access to the EU. We want a deal between independent states, as we have with Japan and as the EU has with Canada - not imperial preference (as the British colonies’ trade benefits with the mother country was called). 2/4

If the EU can only conceive of the UK as a colony or a stranger, we have no option but to take the latter status. Our partnership on domestic security and international action - especially on climate change - will be weaker. But if we take the colony option... 3/4

...we will be sowing the seeds of a far more profound destruction: the loss of trust of the British people in the democratic system. No immediate economic or political advantage is worth that. 4/4