Chaos and mess

Lord Adonis, the head of the UK National Infrastructure Commission stated that, "eight-year-olds have a better grasp of the power dynamics" of Brexit than our chief negotiator, Mr Davis. The response from the Brextremists was simply 'fire Adonis'. Looking at Mr Davis's record surely firing him would be more sensible.

An EU ambassador has commented on the "chaos and mess at the heart of British government". The lead negotiator for the EU said that the UK government's "internal battle [means] we don't receive always a clear UK position."

The 'chaos and mess' means that investors and businesses are placing their money elsewhere - not least in the Eurozone.

The Bank of England reports that larger companies are "favouring direct investment overseas...and funds flowing into overseas or cross-border facilities". More and more small businesses in the UK are planning to downsize or close. UK car production is already falling. The XL Group (one of Lloyd's of London's largest insurance syndicates) is moving to Dublin, and others are making enquiries or shifting staff there - so many financial staff are relocating there that house prices are predicted to increase by 16% in the next two years (London prices are falling).

Is this inevitable? We were warned about the effects of Brexit and the predictions are starting to come true. However the worrying point is that we haven't even left yet. We are trading under the same conditions as we have over the past few years.

What then is the problem? The problem is uncertainty. The problem is Mrs May. Her refusal even now to give any hints as to her negotiating strategy, to declare her 'non-negotiables', her 'red lines', has meant that no-one knows what the UK is headed for. Not even her negotiating team apparently.

The Home Office under Mrs May would have been put in special measures if it had been a school. Instead Mrs May was promoted to lead the most important and most delicate transition that the UK has had to go through, with a divided party, a wafer-thin majority and no plan. She quickly threw away even the majority she did have and fired her closest advisers, while retaining an amoral clown bent on destroying her.

We really do need a strong leader to get us through this, but what a shambolic line-up there is on offer. We can only hope that Ruth Davidson drops her objections to becoming PM.