Greening is right, only a new EU vote can end this chaos
IT’S A strange and unsettling feeling to be living in a country where the Government has effectively ceased to function.
But that’s what we’ve got – an administration paralysed by its own internal disputes, presided over by a Prime Minister with no real control over policy, let alone her own fate.
I can’t recall this happening before in my lifetime. Not during Edward Heath’s hopeless premiership of the early 1970s, when the lights went out and industry was compelled to work a three-day week, nor John Major’s of the early 1990s, when the country faced financial meltdown.
Yet both appear – to borrow her own slogan – strong and stable in comparison to Theresa May, who now embodies the insult once thrown at Major, of being in office but not in power.
How long she remains in office is open to debate, as the Tory war over Brexit rips the Government apart, rendering it so dysfunctional that it is no longer fit for purpose.
With Boris Johnson yesterday beginning to huff and puff on the sidelines, not in the service of his country or party but purely in pursuit of his overweening ambition to be in charge of both, the crisis engulfing Mrs May has never looked more serious.
Meanwhile, the country drifts with no clear idea of how the almighty mess that Brexit has become will end, only the nasty and ever more widespread
This entire process needs to be rebooted, because if it isn’t, nothing but division and rancour lies ahead, not just among the ranks of politicians but in communities large and small across the country.
Ms Greening hit the nail on the head when she pointed out that politicians have reached deadlock. That was always one of the risks of the simplistic in-or-out referendum question of two years ago.
It was not just voters who went to the polls not really knowing what the consequences of either option would be. Politicians didn’t either, and the looks of bewilderment on the faces of ardent leavers such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove spoke more eloquently than words of how little idea they had of what should happen.
All the talk of effortless trade deals, and countries queuing up to do business with Britain, has turned out to be so much hooey.
The only nations to make firm offers have been Australia and New Zealand, minor players on the world stage, and both interested because they can see an opportunity to grab a larger slice of our agriculture market, to the detriment of British farmers. Some deal.
And for Northern communities, the opportunity to think again in a second referendum could be an economic lifesaver.
What has become clear in the past two years is that industrial towns and cities which were among the most enthusiastic supporters of leaving the EU are likely to be hit hardest by it as companies move out.
This was an entirely unforeseen consequence for many, and the recent warnings from Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover that they could quit Britain should not have been dismissed by members of the Government because they disagreed with a particular political narrative.
These are businesses that are driven by their bottom line and will do whatever it takes to keep it healthy. If Britain fails to provide an environment where they can trade profitably, they’ll go elsewhere. Simple as that. And if that means mass job losses, tough.
But too many Tory MPs appear to have lost sight of what the infighting, and the loss of Government authority it has created, means beyond Westminster, obsessed as they are with dogma that has become entrenched over the course of decades.
The likes of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg won’t be affected if a major employer leaves Britain. But an engineering worker in Yorkshire who is part of its supply chain could see his or her life catastrophically changed.
There is no end in sight to the deadlock gripping politicians over Brexit. Ms Greening is right to say that only the people can now make a decision. And that’s as it should be. After all, it’s their future at stake.