No longer managing

Credit card borrowing is going up, as is other unsecured consumer borrowing -  a 10% annual increase. The total on tick is now £200 billion. The government has told banks to put away an extra £10 billion to protect themselves from defaults as interest rates start to rise and people start to go bankrupt (currently 2 in 1000 and rising). Borrowing is now at 135% of income, with people borrowing to pay bills rather than buy luxuries, as pay rises fail to keep up with inflation and the government keeps cutting benefits while increasing taxes. Mrs May's "just about managing" are becoming the "no longer managing".

UK businesses are also feeling the pinch, with half a million of them now in financial difficulty - a 27% rise since last year. Just between July and September this year 25,479 businesses went bust. As interest rates rise, as inflation goes up, and as the pound falls, more and more companies are going to get into difficulties.

The UK is in a delicate position. Whatever we do now we are in for a period of belt tightening. However, at the moment we still have our trade agreements - in fact, income from abroad is up by £6.4 billion - and we still have foreign investors. Losing those will turn something painful into something terrible.

To keep things on the road we need certainty, we need to know what is going to happen post-Brexit, we need to know that we will still be able to trade with our current partners. The only people who will benefit from a hard Brexit are the financiers looking for a good deal on sound but insolvent businesses.

We need a plan and we need a deal. Pay now for a good one, or we will be forced to take whatever we can get when the time runs out. Let's take back control.