AS I am writing this column, parliament is still debating the Bill that will give the government the power to trigger Article 50 and take us out of the EU.

By the time you read this, parliament will have approved the Bill and we will be on our way out. I am voting to trigger Article 50 despite having campaigned to remain in the EU because as MPs we made the rare decision to hand the matter to the people in a referendum. A majority voted to leave – in Furness and in the country overall – and I think it is right to respect that by getting the formal process under way.

Debate must now turn to the kind of relationship the UK will have with the EU once we leave. On that matter there is much at stake and the government does not have a mandate to put in place arrangements that will cut us off from our most important trading partners and risk jobs and living standards as a result.

While we may not have been successful over the last week in getting a majority in the House of Commons for a different kind of deal, I will continue working with MPs from all parties to protect our local and national interests.

For example, the government is currently planning on taking the UK out of the Euratom nuclear safety agreement that underpins all of the safety arrangements made at Sellafield and other nuclear sites in the UK. Nuclear workers and experts all agree this is an unnecessary and profoundly destabilising move. While the amendment I signed to keep us in Euratom has been rejected, the issue remains live and I was pleased to secure a promise from the prime minister last week that she will keep an open mind on the issue. Risking turmoil in the civil nuclear sector is playing fast and loose with the livelihoods of many thousands of Cumbrians and is particularly foolish given the news that Toshiba is reviewing its proposed investment in Moorside, putting a question mark over 21,000 local jobs.

So while we are heading out of the EU because of the referendum result, the Article 50 bill marks the start of a process vital to the future of the nation, not its conclusion. MPs in parliament have a crucial role to play in holding the government to account during the negotiation and we will not be cowed by ministers who are blundering around insisting they should not be questioned.

This is an uncertain time but pretending the referendum never happened is not going to help anyone. I am convinced that the right thing to do is to roll up our sleeves and get stuck into the process of trying to get the best deal for Britain.

The government is on the wrong track, we must keep working to make them change course.