The local elections have sent a clear message – and the big parties are ignoring it

Can we learn anything from local elections? We’re repeatedly warned off even trying by those who see council elections as peculiar expressions of inchoate local interests, removed from our national political conversation.

But in a time of total political paralysis these elections matter, as they give voice to a population left on the sidelines as our politicians bicker for months on end. And there was one overriding theme emerging from yesterday’s result: voters rewarded parties with clear, pro-people’s vote policies on Brexit, and punished those who support Brexit.

A policy of Brexit ambiguity from Labour cost votes.

A policy of protracted arguing, incompetence and a severe leadership vacuum meant the Conservatives fared even worse.

In the context of the upcoming European elections, Thursday sent a strong indication of one recipe for success: choose a clear Brexit policy, and offer the country a genuine solution to the crisis beyond conflicting platitudes and outdated promises. To do otherwise only guarantees the haemorrhaging of millions of votes to parties who understand the leadership that our country craves. Whatever your thoughts on Change UK and the Brexit Party, you can’t argue they mince their words on the next steps for Brexit.

The failure of Labour and the Conservatives to comprehend the scale of defeat is staggering. Our prime minister insisted the most important lesson to take from the evisceration of her party was that the nation wanted to get on with Brexit. This in spite of rewards for parties who wanted the opposite. Jeremy Corbyn praised small gains in target seats despite his party losing councillors nearing the triple figures. Both are deluded, and both make the survival of their parties all the more difficult.

The cognitive dissonance from Labour is perhaps more concerning. Instead of witnessing victory against a party responsible for the biggest national crisis in my lifetime, Labour clings to an ill-fated (and ultimately impossible) desire to speak for both Remain and Leave.

Even Barry Gardiner – an expert in articulating Labour’s tortuously convoluted Brexit policy – admitted this morning that the ambiguity has become too much for many to bear. It was undoubtedly a contributing factor to the party’s unexpectedly dire performance, he said.

These results are a further reminder of the consequences for Labour should they pursue the Brexit policy their NEC landed on just days ago: a caveated, ambiguous and non-binding commitment to a confirmatory referendum shuts the door to millions of voters.

Paying lip-service to the dwindling numbers of the party’s supporters who want to leave the European Union while ignoring the overwhelming majority who don’t is a huge miscalculation. Despite polls telling us for months that this ambiguity costs votes, the inevitable loss is strewn out for the leadership to see in all its irrefutable glory.

But there is a way out. There is the option for a stable majority in parliament, should Labour and the Conservatives support a referendum. Support for one is growing outside Westminster, where the two parties can no longer count on the loyalty of their natural bases.

With parties supporting a people’s vote gaining ground, it is only right to check that the public still want Brexit. The reality of leaving is now clear, and the public must be allowed to give their consent to the path forward while they still can.

Lara Spirit is the co-president of Our Future Our Choice, a pro-European Union youth organisation campaigning for a Final Say on Brexit