There is a time-honoured expression for offering something that is not needed: “that’s like taking coals to Newcastle” – the north-east of England, of course, for most of the 20th century having been a centre of working coal mines. More recently, however, the coalfields were so run down that, before the carbon tax was introduced in 2013, we were importing coal from Russia and South America for power stations not that far from Newcastle.

The miners were very important in Labour party history. When, in the early postwar years, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was being formed, the possibility of our joining was peremptorily dismissed by Herbert Morrison, foreign secretary in the Attlee government, with the words “the Durham miners won’t wear it”.

Coal and steel were integral to the production of instruments of war. It should never be forgotten, during these strange times when most foreigners one meets think this country has taken leave of its senses, that the ECSC, which evolved into the Common Market, was seen as a way of binding nations closely together, so that another war – Germany and France had been at it in 1870, 1914 and 1940 – would be unthinkable.

These geopolitical considerations are seldom far from my mind. Since I regard Brexit as the biggest British economic folly I have ever had to cover, it is the economic damage that I concentrate on. But there is an obvious worry, if we do head for a “no-deal” exit, that there could be wider geopolitical ramifications, at a time when Trump and his friend Putin seem to be set on causing as much damage to the EU as they can.

The prospect of the self-harm that is Brexit began as a futile attempt by David Cameron to settle divisions on Europe within the Tory party once and for all. Instead he exacerbated them, with the reductio ad absurdum that the leading Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg, while moving his financial operations to Dublin, blithely tells us that it might take 50 years to reap the so-called “benefits” of Brexit.

Perceptions of the damage that the mere prospect of Brexit is now inflicting appear to be strengthening

It is a pity that Cameron did not study the way in which the former Labour MP George Cunningham (who died last month) designed his amendment to the Scotland bill of 1978. That was the bill for prime minister James Callaghan’s proposal for Scottish devolution. The referendum the following year led to the defeat of the bill and then the collapse of the Callaghan government in a no-confidence motion. (It was this, and not, as often supposed, the 1978-79 “winter of discontent”, that brought down Callaghan, although the reaction to the winter of discontent certainly figured prominently in the election that followed.)

Cunningham’s cunning amendment required a certain percentage – 40% – of the entire electorate to approve of devolution. Thus, although 51.6% of those who voted favoured devolution, they constituted only 32.9% of the electorate. Scottish devolution was postponed for almost 20 years.

It cannot be repeated often enough that when Theresa May says she has to honour the result of the referendum, she is proposing to honour the recorded views of a mere 37% of the electorate.

Now, whenever I have asked some Labour MPs why, frankly, they have been so supine on this issue, when they regard Brexit as damagingly absurd, their answers have indicated that because they represented Leave constituencies, they were frightened of losing their seats (sometimes this would be put in the context of wanting to honour the views of their constituents, you understand).

Well, the poll reported a fortnight ago in this newspaper indicated that in Labour’s heartlands, “more than 100 Leave seats now back Remain”. Moreover, another recent poll found that 79% of voters aged 18-24 support remaining in the EU.

The welcome movement of opinion partly reflects disgust with the way this embarrassingly poor government is handling the issue. But, more importantly, perceptions of the damage that the mere prospect of Brexit is now inflicting appear to be strengthening.

It is surely time for Labour to get its act together when parliament reassembles and help to save the nation from further humiliation. When pressed last week on the Today programme, the shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, refused to be drawn into ruling out another referendum. He emphasised that he was keeping options open.

The truth is that a no-deal Brexit is the worst option, but other forms of Brexit are damaging in their own way. The only sensible option is to remain in the EU that the predecessors of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn fought so hard to join.

And the legacy of the Durham miners? The unions, too, know these days which side their bread is buttered.