Nosedive

Many Leave voters were motivated by the idea that immigrants were taking their jobs, filling school places, lengthening NHS queues, that they were forcing down wages and taking up accommodation.

We know that wages and jobs are not affected by immigration. In fact UK businesses need overseas workers to fill jobs. However wages are falling even as prices are rising. The problem is the weak pound is making imports ever more expensive, businesses have to meet the costs somehow - prices go up and wages go down.

What about homes, hospitals and schools?

With the uncertainty of Brexit there is little going on in the housing market. We aren't being told anything, so people are sitting tight. This means that house prices are falling - if no-one's buying and you need to sell, what can you do? At least overseas buyers are celebrating - with the crash in the value of sterling and the desperation of sellers they are cashing in. In one new development only 17 of 282 flats were bought by British residents (15 of those by buy-to-let landlords). The rest are now standing empty or being rented out. 10% of our total UK housing stock is already owned by overseas investors. With wages continuing to fall it is going to become ever harder to buy a house.

Worryingly there has also been a sudden rise in first-time buyers, tempted by the low mortgage rates on offer. As inflation takes off, pushing up mortgage rates, and wages continue to fall they are going to be in a very difficult position. Many have been given their deposit by their parents who have dug into their retirement fund - another ticking time-bomb.

The NHS is suffering the worst backlog of patient treatments for a decade and there are 2.3 million beds blocked by elderly patients who have nowhere to go. Care homes are losing 2000 beds a year and people are living longer, so bed blocking is set to keep increasing. The number of nurses is falling - while the number of applicants for nursing positions has dropped by 95%. Current staff are leaving to stack supermarket shelves. Post-Brexit Mrs May plans to deport EU residents - that's a lot of nurses.

Schools are looking at running a four-day week, increasing class sizes, cutting salaries (UK teachers are already among the lowest paid in Europe), cutting support for vulnerable students, and asking parents for money. Two thirds of schools are cutting staff. In response Mrs May planned to ditch the school lunch and replace it with a cut-price bowl of cereal. Typically she has made a U-turn on that idea. She still want schools to produce savings of £3 billion in the next two years - that is 7% of their budgets.

All of these problems are going to get worse as the economy slows. The pound, wages and confidence will keep falling, prices will keep rising. Mrs May could do something to reduce the damage if she would at least reassure businesses and investors that she has a plan, that she knows what she is doing, that she understands how to pull us out of our economic nosedive.

Well, Mrs May?