The EU elections prove that voters on all sides want to have their say on Brexit – the only way forward is a new referendum

As cross-party talks collapse and both the Conservatives and Labour prepare for a dismal EU election performance, the destination for which the UK is heading is obvious

Almost the only thing that Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have in common is that neither wishes to be blamed for the collapse of their cross-party talks about Brexit, upon which so few hopes for the future of Britain were pinned.

Although the more rationally minded Keir Starmer and David Lidington probably did engage on the tricksy detail, with ever more elaborate schemes to find some middle ground on “a” or “the” customs union or customs “arrangement”, the talks were doomed to fail. That was because it was never in Corbyn’s interest to play midwife to any kind of Tory-led Brexit, because Labour was genuinely fearful of what a post-May Conservative prime minister might do, and because both party leaders had in common an almost allergic reaction to a confirmatory referendum on any Brexit deal.

It is further confirmation – hardly needed – that the prime minister’s Brexit deal does not and will not command the support of the House of Commons. It has not done so on the many occasions she has presented it to our elected representatives since she signed it last November, and it has never polled well with the public. Dressing it up in the form of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill will make no difference to that.

Indeed, now that May has reversed her previous position on the timing of her resignation, it makes it even less likely that the Commons will give the bill a crucial second reading. In the recent past May desperately offered to quit if her colleagues agreed to back her deal in the meaningful votes, so the hard Brexiteers could vote for it; now she has offered to quit if the bill is rejected. Thus the Boris Johnson fan club and the gangs of Conservatives now forming around the numerous potential successors to May have an additional incentive to vote the bill down and hasten her departure.

Given the inevitability of all this, it is curious that the government is opting to waste yet more time on what amounts to an almost ceremonial exercise, designed maybe to save May’s face. Whatever the intentions of those involved, our political leaders – Labour and Conservative – have already spent six weeks on the latest round of talks. Now we will fritter away another month or more on another charade – trying to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. What a portrait of national procrastination; what a way to run a country; what an image to present to the rest of the world.

The words of European Council president Donald Tusk come to mind. When, on 11 April, the council granted the UK a further extension until the end of October, Mr Tusk pleaded with Britain: “Please do not waste this time.” Now we are going to spend many weeks watching the Conservative Party try to choose a new leader, form a new government and, presumably, formulate a new Brexit policy, with every chance that Mr Johnson will buster his way to the top. It is probably not what Mr Tusk and the EU had in mind.

The British could save themselves and the Europeans a lot of time and angst by simply facing facts and realising that changing the Conservative leader or putting Ms May’s deal to parliament again will not break the deadlock. Neither would a vote of confidence in HM government, and nor would a general election. Nor, as we have seen, will more indicative votes or cross-party talks. Every possible avenue has been explored and found to be a dead end. The destination for which the UK is heading is obvious – a Final Say referendum, putting back to the people the question that their MPs cannot resolve.

Indeed, as a matter of democratic principle, the MPs should not resolve it, as the right belongs to the people, and it is their democratic right to have the final, confirmatory voice in the whole process. They will not have that voice in the parliamentary debates on the bill, and nor will they have a voice in an internal Conservative leadership election.

The local elections and the European parliamentary elections indicate that they do want to have their say on Brexit – on both sides. We should get on with it, whoever happens to be in No 10. Britain’s future in Europe is up to the people, not the prime minister.