Be prepared

Mrs May promised £250 million towards preparing for a no-deal Brexit. Parliamentary Brextremists criticise Mr Hammond for not wanting to spend it now. From their point of view this makes sense - they want a hard Brexit so they need the government to prepare for it. The fact that few ordinary people - or even their own colleagues - want to cast the UK completely adrift is irrelevant to them. They don't care that a hard Brexit means a hardship Brexit for people who are already struggling.

However, their zealotry means that they are unable to actually think critically about what such preparation would involve. Ignoring the problems that can't be 'prepared for', such as the imposition of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and also ignoring the problems that will have to be solved no matter what flavour of Brexit is forced down our throats, such as chemical regulation and access to nuclear materials, we are left with problems which will cost a lot more than a quarter of a billion pounds to even get started on.

The Calais upgrade is costed at £800 million over six years. The upgrade is only to get it up to scratch for current purposes. Leaving the single market means Dover will need to be expanded to cope with the demands of custom inspections - not only staffing and inspection areas, but also holding areas where transport can wait its turn. Dover is hemmed in by cliffs and the sea, making expansion very expensive. £1 billion would only be the appetiser. Of course, unless the UK paid for a further upgrade on the French side, this won't solve the problem. When the French applied extra security checks in 2016 people going via Dover had to queue for 14 hours or longer, the A20 was closed, and truck-jams covered miles of motorway.

At least the government could pay their way to some sort of a solution there, but what about the extra bureaucracy for every exporter? One document that will have to be filled in is the "single administrative document", 54 boxes, for every goods declaration. The government could provide a 50p-a-minute helpline, of course.

What about the extra warehousing and inventory required to allow for delays? It is hardly the government's job to be building warehouses - and given their record on homes needed right now, would you give them the job anyway?

Just how scared is 'the EU' about a hard Brexit anyway? France and Germany stand to do rather well out of it. Romania would be take a bit of a hit, but most members don't really care either way. They have more important things to deal with.

The clock is ticking and we have no clear strategy. Knuckling under to the hard Brexit headbangers would be a betrayal of our country's future and of our children's future. The Tory party needs to come together to agree on, collectively support, and successfully negotiate a beneficial trade agreement with the EU. Some ministers will need to go and we will have to pay upfront, but the benefits will keep rolling in.