Corbyn has an opportunity in the next 10 days to prove himself a statesman

The EU referendum campaign has reached its critical moment. In the six nationwide referendums we have had in the UK, starting with the one on whether to remain in the then European Economic Community in 1975, there has normally been a late swing to the status quo option as people decide against risking change. This certainly happened during the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. At the same stage in that campaign, the opinion polls were much too close to call, as they certainly are now in the EU debate.

Friday’s survey by ORB for The Independent, which showed Leave 10 points ahead when people’s likelihood to vote is taken into account, made waves around the world and exposed the weakness of the Remain campaign. It knows it is losing ground among Labour supporters and desperately needs a boost. Even Remain’s frontman David Cameron seems to acknowledge that he cannot provide it. His aides say he is happy to “clear the stage” for Labour and other pro-EU voices such as the Greens in the final days of the campaign. Surely, when he called the referendum, the Prime Minister would never have dreamt that it would come to this.

His strategy is right, but it is far from certain that it will work. Jeremy Corbyn, a long-standing opponent of EU membership, has bowed to the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs by supporting Remain. But his campaigning has been lukewarm. It is coupled with so many attacks on the Conservatives and criticism of Remain’s alleged scaremongering that it is no wonder almost half of Labour voters do not know the party’s official position. That is not an indictment of them, but of their party’s leadership.

Mr Corbyn needs to adopt a much higher profile for Remain to win. A study of media coverage by Loughborough University shows that Mr Cameron made 357 media appearances in the past month, followed by Boris Johnson on 275. Leavers hold four of the top six places in the league table. Mr Corbyn, the highest placed Labour figure, is seventh with 52 appearances Even allowing for the fact that “blue-on-blue” attacks by fellow Conservatives are of more interest to the media, Mr Corbyn’s contribution is not enough.

At one level, his caution is understandable. He is scarred by Labour’s decision to campaign alongside the Tories in the Scottish referendum, which was followed by a Labour massacre by the SNP in Scotland in last year’s general election. But with the EU vote on a knife edge, this is not the time for such calculations.

Even at this late stage, Mr Corbyn’s genuine Euroscepticism could prove an asset for Remain. His lack of love for EU institutions, and his assessment of himself as “seven or seven and a half out of 10” for Remain, mean that his views are in line with those of many Labour voters. He should now tell them much more forcefully that they should not use this referendum to kick Mr Cameron, and that Brexit would harm the economy and public services and unravel employment rights guaranteed by EU membership.

As Mr Cameron and Ed Miliband acknowledge, this referendum is more important than a general election because Brexit would be much harder – if not impossible – to reverse. Revealingly, the current Labour leadership declines to see the vote in such terms.

Despite that, Mr Corbyn has a big opportunity in the next 10 days: a chance to become a statesman in the eyes of voters who do not yet see him as one, by putting the national interest before narrow party interest. If he really wants to lead Labour to victory at the 2020 election, rather than merely ensure that the left retains power in his party, this the moment to prove it.