The pollsters have been quick off the mark to gauge the level of public support for a ‘New Centrist Party Opposed to Brexit’, even though the new Independents Group has not yet formally formed a party. Survation found that the theoretical new party would already attract the support of 8%, jumping straight into third place ahead of the Lib Dems:

• Conservatives: 39%
• Labour: 34%
• “A new centrist party opposed to Brexit”: 8%
• Lib Dems: 6%
• UKIP: 5%
• Green: 2%

Helpfully, they also conducted a second poll at the same time without the new centrist party, which gives a good indication of where their votes are coming from. The Lib Dems are hit hardest, losing almost half of their vote share (4%) to the new party, while Labour lose 2% and the Conservatives drop 1%. Not a compelling argument in favour of the Tories softening their position on Brexit…

Worryingly for Corbyn, the public is broadly supportive of the MPs’ decision to splinter away from Labour. Survation found 56% thought they were right to split, with only 20% opposed, while a separate YouGov poll found a 46%-13% split on the same question. On the question of which “best represents the people of Britain”, Survation found 40% favoured the new Independent Group while only 23% chose the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. For the few, not the many…