The British Parliament voted last week to trigger Article 50 — the first step on the road towards withdrawal from the European Union. This move has predictably been greeted with fury by many of those who voted against Brexit in last year’s referendum. Less predictably, perhaps, much of that fury has been directed towards the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn, rather than towards the political actors which are actually responsible for taking Britain out of the European Union.

This is ostensibly because Corbyn directed Labour MPs to vote in favor of triggering Article 50, thus signaling Labour’s willingness to accept the result of the referendum, while bringing forward amendments that would have constrained Britain’s Conservative government in the negotiations to come. However, discussion of Parliamentary tactics has usually been a proxy for a much wider debate about the correct approach to Brexit. More often than not, Corbyn and Labour are being condemned for things which they have not done, or which they cannot (and should not) do.

The British left badly needs to find its bearings in a complex and confusing environment dominated by the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump. There are no perfect choices available; every potential course of action has its dangers and drawbacks. But Labour’s current approach — accepting that Britain will leave the European Union, while pledging to resist Theresa May’s vision of a “bargain-basement Britain” founded on tax cuts and xenophobia — is far better than the proposed alternatives.