Will Remain parties split the vote at the European parliament elections?

Politics Explained: With everyone standing on Brexit lines, pro-EU parties could be undone by all campaigning on the same issue

Splitting the vote means inadvertently dividing your supporters and letting the other side, who are not making the same error, win. It is an occupational hazard for all political parties. There are two main dangers.

First, assuming you have much the same views, you can quite easily confuse the voter and campaign less effectively across a number of parties than via one unified organisation.

Today, when one political issue dominates the headlines to the virtual exclusion of all else – Brexit – and many parties share the view that the UK should not leave the EU, it seems odd that they cannot form some kind of “alliance” in order to demonstrate their own solidarity, and invite the general public to do the same.