As I write I am staring with incredulity at my polling card for the European elections on May 23. The very idea that this contest is going ahead, barring some unlikely development at Westminster in the next three weeks, remains a source of amazement. We were supposed to have left the EU on March 29 – yet will now be sending 73 MEPs back to the parliament.

To what purpose; and for how long? Does anyone really believe that having installed them in Strasbourg we will march them out again on October 31 having either reached a successful cross-party Brexit accommodation or having decided to leave without a deal? Since neither seems remotely probable now, the only alternatives are a general election and/or another referendum, both of which are unpalatable to the two major parties.

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For the Conservatives in particular, any appeal to the electorate in the current circumstances might prove to be an epochal, even existential, event. Tomorrow’s local council contests in more than 250 English authorities could begin a process that will ultimately destroy the party. Expectations have been lowered almost as far as they can be by Tory managers. Poll watchers predict losses of between 800 and 1,000 councillors, though this may not necessarily translate into a consequential loss of control, particularly where just one-third of seats are being contested.