Terrified of leavers and remainers, Labour offers a Brexit sticking plaster – and that won’t do

‘Isn’t it time we took stock of what has become of Britain’s sorry relationship with the EU?’ Protest in Westminster this week. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Pity Labour right now: feeling the righteous heat of Brexit failure, needing to appease ever more vociferous remainers, but desperate not to alarm “red wall” voters.

So we are offered vague words from Labour’s David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, of better connections between the EU and “tarnished” Britain and aspirations about joint talking shops, when the reality is that faced with a continually chaotic UK, the EU will simply protect its members and enjoy the schadenfreude.