Politics may seem to be deeply confusing at present, but in fact there is one very stark conclusion to come out of the Peterborough by-election – that while Labour and the Conservatives are both deeply unpopular, the Labour vote remains more tribal than that of the Conservatives and will hold up better in a general election.
Hard though it might be to see the bright side when your party’s share of the vote has plunged from 48 per cent to 31 per cent, Peterborough is something of a quiet triumph for Jeremy Corbyn.
The Labour result is truly miserable until you realise that the Conservatives’ share fell from 46 per cent to 21 per cent. Corbyn can be confident that were a general election to be held before Brexit has completed there would be dozens of Peterboroughs all over the country: constituencies where Labour’s share of the vote plunges but where, nevertheless, it doesn’t plunge quite as far as that of the Conservatives.
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