Labour is collapsing under the strain of Brexit – and pro-Corbyn MPs are considering life without their leader

Corbyn promised ‘straight talking, honest politics’. But his project is now losing ground because of its Brexit ambiguity

Despite the Conservatives’ calamitous fifth place in the European elections and their divisive leadership election, Labour somehow managed to match their bad headlines this week. Its poor third place behind Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats came as a shock to Jeremy Corbyn, who was badly advised by aides about the likely impact of his “all things to all people” approach to Brexit.

It is very rare for the two main parties to be in such a mess at the same time. It won’t end while Brexit remains unresolved. A YouGov poll for The Times today puts the re-energised Lib Dems top for the first time in nine years.

A survey of 10,000 voters by Lord Ashcroft found that only 38 per cent of Labour’s 2017 stuck with the party in the European elections; 22 per cent went to the Lib Dems, 17 per cent to the Greens and 13 per cent to the Brexit Party. Corbyn needs to get off the fence and there is only one way to jump.