A Southampton Labour MP has defended his actions after he defied party orders and the views of his constituents to vote against the bill triggering Article 50 to start the Brexit process.

Shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, was one of eight Labour rebels who disobeyed leader Jeremy Corbyn’s instructions to vote in favour of the bill.

Mr Whitehead said that “rushing into triggering Article 50” without a clear idea of the government’s intentions was not in the nation’s best interests.

He added: “I was not prepared to stand by and allow us to jump into what I regard as a potentially very dangerous path for the UK.

“The first stage of the bill is now, however, complete and there will now be an opportunity to try and win amendments to the bill so that the Government is better guided in what it does in negotiations.

“I hope that some changes may be made, although it will not alter what I regard as a precipitate and ill-judged triggering of exit procedures.”

Mr Whitehead said he would vote against the bill again when it returns for further readings in the Commons.

He also criticised Government’s decision to produce the four-line bill with “no information about how negotiations might proceed” and “on what lines any negotiations might go along”.

The MP said the government’s plans for a “hard Brexit” had not been debated properly.

“The referendum vote did not give any guidance about this – we simply decided by a narrow majority that Britain would leave the EU.

“There is a world of difference then between a negotiation that seeks a good deal for British industry, maintains association with the EU on matters of British national interest, and gets the best terms for the UK in future, and pushing a button on an exit that dumps the UK out of all its associations with nothing to take their place.

“I don’t think most people who voted in the referendum thought that the latter outcome was what they were voting for.”

The bill, which passed its first reading by 498-114. will return to the Commons next week, where MPs will discuss it in more detail.