Daily catch-up: Prospects of a Labour breakaway – fantasy and folly

Plus the softness of the 'Leave the EU' vote; a decision to be undecided on Heathrow; and another picture of old London

Shoppers preparing for Christmas in the London fog: Regent Street in December 1964 by Peter King, via Sir William Davenant.

• Philip Collins in The Times (pay wall) today concludes that a breakaway party from Labour is a non-starter. He calls it a fantasy and a folly, but says Labour MPs must get rid of Jeremy Corbyn instead:

By next year’s party conference Mr Corbyn could have cemented his position by changing all the party rules. That means the day will come soon when the shadow cabinet will have to force a contest in which the parliamentary party gathers around a single candidate. Mr Corbyn may not prove as meek, in those circumstances, as many of them suppose. In one sense, to act requires courage, but how courageous is it really to take the only available course?

I agree that a non-Corbynite breakaway is a foolish idea, but it is quite easy to spot the flaw in Collins's plan. Who would the single candidate be, and how would the 300,000 or so of the Labour selectorate who support Jeremy Corbyn be persuaded of his or her superior virtues? Collins concludes: "Persuading Labour members of the truth will be a tough task, like rolling a stone uphill. There is no other option." I would say the impossible is not an option.

I conclude that whatever happens is going to take a long time and that, although Things Can Only Get Better, they can get an awful lot worse first.

• The "Leave the EU" vote is softer than the "Remain in the EU", according to a new poll by YouGov. Although voters split 41-41 per cent when asked the plain question of how they will vote in the referendum, they respond differently to scenarios about how the renegotiations will play out. If the renegotiation is positive, Leave support drops by much more than Remain support drops if the renegotiation is negative.

• The Government has decided to remain undecided about expanding Heathrow. This has annoyed a lot of people who want Heathrow to expand inordinately, and some of the people who don't want Heathrow to expand have joined in, pretending to be annoyed that David Cameron hasn't made the decision in their favour. No one has made a decision about Heathrow for a very long time now, so while I can see that the expanders might be upset I don't think it is the lack of a decision that upsets them.

Meanwhile Tom Peck, The Independent's new sketch-writer has news of competition from the East:

By 2017 it is estimated that four fifths of mainland China will be made up of airports, to the extent that planes will no longer have to leave the ground to travel between major cities.

• And finally, thanks to Brian Spanner for this update from Scotland:

"What is your favourite Scottish Bridge?"

"The Forth Road Bridge."

"Why?"

"It's cracking."