1. He will table a vote of no-confidence in the Government.
2. If that is successful, he would seek the confidence of the house to form a “strictly time-limited temporary Government”.
3. If that is successful, he would aim to secure an extension to Article 50 to hold a General Election.
4. He would then bring a vote to hold a General Election.
5. In that General Election, Labour would commit to holding a public vote on the terms of exit, and it would include an option to Remain.

On social media, Labour supporters claim that if Lib Dems don’t support this it is a betrayal of our desire to stop Brexit (especially no-deal Brexit). To see a similar view in more words, the Guardian is reporting that the Lib Dems are now ‘isolated’ since other opposition leaders (Sturgeon, Lucas, Saville-Roberts) are receptive to the plan,and this is supported by an opinion piece.

Commentary has focused on whether Corbyn can command the confidence of the house. Swinson has challenged Corbyn to list the eight Conservative MPs whose support he can count on to get over the line (I make it nine with twelve independents so please correct me in the comments). Eight Conservatives seems like a stretch – I can’t even find eight current Conservatives who have backed a second referendum, let alone one brought about by Corbyn. Labour supporters think that being the leader of the Opposition gives Corbyn the right to head a unity government, whilst as Lib Dems we probably think that Corbyn and unity are unlikely concepts to find together and someone else would be better placed.

The plan really falls apart at the General Election stage: I would argue the chances of returning a parliament which supports a people’s vote are very low. This is largely subjective, and therefore divisive: Labour supporters have been told for years that the only thing standing between Jeremy Corbyn and Downing Street is a General Election which they are bound to win (after all, he “won” the 2017 election didn’t he?). My assessment would be:

• The non-Conservative parties would be divided against a united Conservative party.
• The “Leave” message from the conservatives would be much clearer than the “vote for us to have another vote on maybe not leaving or maybe leaving with some deal not sure what though” message from Labour.
• It plays to Johnson’s strengths as a campaigner and personality
• Labour would struggle to replicate their 2017 success, which was built on non-Brexit issues, without jeopardising the anti-no-deal-Brexit alliance who don’t agree with Labour on everything else.

And even if a majority for a people’s vote is elected, it’s not clear if Corbyn wants a shot at renegotiating the withdrawal agreement, how he would campaign in the referendum, and even what would be in it (would it be deal vs remain, or no-deal vs deal vs remain). Then there’s the small matter of winning the referendum! Even just writing it all down is exhausting. Perhaps by this point, the “remain” option in the referendum campaign should be marketed as “make it all stop please”. 

From this I can only conclude that Corbyn’s offer is meant to be divisive: the offer makes sense from a Labour perspective in which Corbyn is one vote away from power, and maybe even an SNP perspective (they get to pick off some Conservative seats in Scotland), but in terms of actually stopping Brexit the odds seem dire. Compare all this to a more promising plan: unity government headed by figure of actual unity; hold second referendum on deal vs remain; either pass withdrawal agreement or revoke A50 based on referendum; hold GE and talk about something other than Brexit for a change. I think this (or something similar) is what Swinson is holding out for, and I think she’s absolutely right to. Regardless of what you think of Corbyn as Prime Minister, the offer has such a low chance of stopping Brexit it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.

* MIchael Atkins has been a member of the Liberal Democrats since 2005.