Recently, there has been story after story about Brexit ministers giving speeches laying out a road map. This is apart from the chancellor, who has been sent to the Arctic. While the focus for this last week might have been on the Conservative government and its road to nowhere, soon the pendulum will swing back towards the Labour party and its position on Brexit.

Labour fought the election on a mandate that has been hailed as a brilliant middle way between Remain and Leave. MPs on the frontbench Brexit team want to find a solution “somewhere between in and out”. But there is a decision still facing our country and it doesn’t involve a middle way.

The real choice will be between the emerging deal the Conservatives bring back and the bespoke deal within the EU that we have the right to until 29 March 2019. After that point, we will be out of the EU and the special opt-outs we negotiated, not to mention the rebate, would not be on offer for future membership. There has been widespread misunderstanding of “transition”, with some believing it would be a springboard back in, a kind of “cooling-off period” during which we might be able to dip in and out of the EU at our leisure. That is a naive misreading: the only alternative to the government’s Brexit approach, whether that is a deal or no-deal situation, is to stay in and renew our current deal within the EU.

The choice is, starkly, between the Conservative deal and a partnership with Europe as a member of the European Union.

The popular view in the Labour party is that the success of the Jeremy Corbyn election campaign was a combination of his campaigning brilliance and Theresa May’s spectacular series of own goals. Those two elements told part of the story, and there was definitely a Corbyn bounce, but election night and the immediate aftermath missed the extent to which 2017 was also a Brexit election after all. Anti-Conservative tactical votes made a difference and the anti-Brexit vote as a phenomenon in its own right was instrumental in getting Labour over the line in some marginal seats and northern constituencies in particular.

More needs to be understood about who the Labour electorate were and how they felt about the biggest issue of our time when it came to 8 June last year. New research of ours based on the British Election Study shows a once in a generation chance for Corbyn, if he embraces and expands his 2017 electorate: the truth is Labour voters want to stay in the EU and the majority of Labour voters who voted Leave do not prioritise Brexit as the most important issue.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale supported Remain in 2016. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

This research shows something stark – that regardless of region, age, class or the type of constituency, the number of Labour voters who supported Remain vastly outstrips Labour voters who supported Leave. It shows that Labour is the party of Remain in every age group, class and every region of the country, including in the north and among working-class voters. In this respect, the difference between the northern and southern Labour electorate is only a whisker.

However, it is the demographic breakdown that delivers one of the most important insights. We know that middle-class and skilled workers traditionally supported Remain and working classes were more likely to support Leave nationally. But the Labour frontbench should be aware that the majority of Labour-voting working-class voters supported staying in the EU.

Even more crucially, this research suggests strong Leave voters are only a tiny proportion of Labour’s support. According to the British Election Study, just 9% of Labour’s total vote in 2017 is likely to have been Leave supporters, for whom Brexit was the issue they were most concerned about. By comparison, 30% of Labour’s vote in the BES seems to have been those who voted in favour of EU membership and labelled Brexit as their most important issue.

The electoral calculus of this is compelling. It means that many seats are there for the taking if Labour solidifies its Brexit position towards staying in the EU. It seems that the real story of the 2017 election may have been the limiting effect on Labour’s success that Corbyn’s triangulation on Europe had. Research by the British Election Study reinforces these findings.

Almost a year ago, Labour set out six tests for Brexit. It needs to take its own policy seriously and start judging the success or failure of these tests. Everyone from the leadership to backbenchers active on Europe must now focus their fire on opposing the government’s blunders and prepare to vote against what is certain to be an inadequate deal this October. Labour must not rule out all future options being on the table for its relationship with Europe, and it should stay wide open to a referendum on the terms of the deal and the possibility of staying and leading in Europe.

The Conservative government should be taking a much bigger hit in the polls than it is for making a difficult task a national embarrassment. Opposing a disastrous Brexit could give Labour the opportunity to shake up the electoral map and lock in a Labour majority for the next election. In fact, there is a huge opportunity for any party that stands on a platform of staying in and improving our terms within Europe: if Labour doesn’t grab that chance, that vacuum might well be filled by others.

The time to pivot on Europe is now.

Eloise Todd is the chief executive of Best for Britain