Politicians must take responsibility

Government and opposition equally guilty of lacking any idea of how to make Brexit work

THE Scotsman was against the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and we have seen nothing in the two years since victory for the Brexit campaign to change our position.

If anything, the chaotic stewardship of the departure process has strengthened our view that the vote to leave the EU may represent a significant act of national self-sabotage.

But while our scepticism about the wisdom of Brexit remains, we accept that the decision to depart the EU was reached democratically and – in the absence of second referendum that might reverse it – it must be followed to its conclusion.

However, all who feel similarly should not be expected to sit quietly by while those who are so badly leading negotiations for our departure lurch from crisis to crisis.

Yesterday, it emerged that civil servants have explored a scenario in which the UK left the EU without any deal. The document, one of three written for Brexit Secretary David Davis, paints a picture of a country in crisis, with shortages of medicine, fuel and food within just a fortnight.

The Brexit department’s blithe reassurance that none of the problems highlighted in its hypothesis will come to pass raises the question of what purpose it was intended to serve.

We are unimpressed by the response of some leading Brexiteers to the warnings of civil servants.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith’s rather petulant accusation that the civil service is “frozen in the headlights” is yet another example of those who argued most fiercely for Brexit now refusing to take any responsibility for the decision.

He is just one of a string of senior politicians who seem to believe the problematic and complex process of Brexit is a matter for others. This collision of moral cowardice and intellectual inadequacy is not apparent only among Brexiteers.

As the UK slides towards a painful Brexit, it’s hugely regrettable that the official opposition is unable – or unwilling – to try to influence proceedings.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has been pitifully weak on this issue. Is it too much to ask for the opposition to step up as evidence mounts that Brexit will cost us dear?

Departure from the EU will mark one of the most momentous steps in Britain’s history. What a damned shame that neither the government nor the opposition seems to have the first idea how to make it work.