With Brexit delayed, and a question mark looming over it, the UK still remains a member of the European Union - and therefore will be taking part in the European parliament elections this month.
As the negotiations drag on, faith in the main parties is waning - and a new usurper could take seats from both Labour and the Tories, reports Perspecs.
Nigel Farage's Brexit Party will be fighting its first election on May 23, and they could potentially win more votes than Labour and the Tories combined.
There are calls for the Conservatives and the Brexit Party to unite. However, others believe it could poison the Tories.
The Claim
The Daily Telegraph's Allister Heath argues the Tories should be allying with Farage on Brexit, not Jeremy Corbyn.
He says that Theresa May's approach to the Brexit deal has been "staggeringly wrong-headed", showing that the Tory leader "no longer understands her activists".
Heath argues: "Anything short of a full implementation of what Brexiteers thought they were voting for will be seen as a betrayal: at least 15 per cent of the electorate, and possibly well over twice that number, will never forgive the Tory party."
He says that the Tory base no longer listens to the prime minister; they are listening to Farage, whose influence is growing.
The Brexit Party could stand against all MPs who back May's deal. On current polling, over 60 will lose their seats - something that could help Labour into power.
He adds that the Brexit Party is "an acceptable alternative to the Tories for disgruntled Conservatives and Eurosceptics", appearing more mainstream than earlier efforts such as UKIP.
Heath concludes: "The only way to stop a hideous hard-left government and the permanent, catastrophic splintering of the centre-right is for the Tories and the Brexit Party to somehow unite."
The Counterclaim
However, the Guardian's Kate Maltby says that teaming up with Farage would "trash the Conservative brand".
She argues: "Once poisoned, parties are almost impossible to detoxify."
Maltby remembers Cleggmania and the coalition government, noting that the Lib Dems experienced electoral wipeout in 2015, due to allying themselves with a political party that their core voters found toxic.
She writes: "It beggars belief that another major political party is considering a pact with an organisation many of its own voters loathe."
She describes Farage, and what standing next to him on a platform or a ticket means: "This is a man who proudly shares images of himself with Donald Trump; who has suggested people with HIV be banned from entering the country; who thinks women who have children are “worth less” to employers than men (childless or not)."
Maltby warns: "Invite him to your party? All those right-leaning social liberals Cameron and Osborne spent years wooing will depart in an instant for Change UK or the finally resurgent Lib Dems."
The Facts
According to a new poll by Opinium for the Observer, the Brexit Party will receive more votes in the European elections than the Tories and Labour combined.
The poll suggests that more than a third of voters (34 per cent) will back Farage's party - an increase of six points since the last Opinium poll a month ago.
Labour's support has dropped to 21 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats on 12 per cent. The Tory vote has collapsed to 11 per cent.
Change UK - The Independent Group, the new party consisting of former Labour and Conservative MPs, has just three per cent of the vote, behind the Greens (eight per cent), UKIP (four per cent) and the Scottish National Party (four per cent).
The European parliament elections take place in the UK on Thursday, May 23.
