The partisan debate since the Gorton and Denton byelection risks blinding us to the truth. People are rejecting wholesale the way our politics has developed

As the days pass since the earthquake that was the Gorton and Denton byelection, the result is being parsed in the usual ways. A mid-cycle protest vote and frustration with the pace of “delivery”. Some have even blamed the electorate itself. More reflective voices have called for a “reset” or a reaffirmation of “Labour values” – often shorthand for an internal recalibration.

All of those contain fragments of truth. But none explains the scale of what now confronts Labour – and the country.

Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South