Amid the sharp polarization of the Brexit debate, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was tasked with the most perilous balancing act of all. He had attempted to maintain something of a compromise position — implementing the result of the referendum but with a ‘soft’ form of exit. But this stance, backed by an ever-shrinking number of shadow cabinet allies, now appears to be crumbling.

Long months of lobbying by a well-funded and eclectic pro-Remain alliance are beginning to pay dividends, as even the Unite trade union seemingly supports a second referendum. It now seems inevitable that Labour will (at least try to) fashion itself as what deputy leader Tom Watson called a “Remain Party” rather than one that unites working people across the divides of the 2016 referendum.

Given both the public prominence of pro-EU campaigners and their success in winning much of the Labour Party to their cause, it’s only right that we pay closer attention to their project. Supporters of a “Remain and Reform” stance have already been critiqued from the more Euroskeptic left. It accuses them of being naive about the real chances of reforming the EU away from its foundational neoliberalism, and being short-sighted — at best — in their indifference to the dangers of entrenching cultural conflict as the enduring dividing line in British politics.