Time to move on

We are in the throes of a new Inquisition in which the heresies being exposed are views on Brexit. Those who favoured leaving accuse Remainers of thwarting withdrawal. Jacob Rees-mogg MP yesterday denounced Mark Carney, the Bank of England Governor, as an “enemy of Brexit”. Chris Heatonharris, another Tory Brexiteer, has sought information about the bona fides of university lecturers, presumably to establish which are in favour of remaining, though it is unclear what he proposed to do with this information.

Meanwhile, on the other side, die-hard Remainers berate their opponents for allegedly misleading the British people and plot to reverse Brexit. This unedifying dispute reflects the closeness of the referendum result and the fact that many of those in Government charged with taking Britain out of the EU were opposed to the idea.

But the vote has been held and we are leaving. As William Hague argued in this newspaper on Tuesday, not to do so now would be morally and democratically unsustainable. It is incumbent, therefore, upon everyone who cares about the future of the country to stop arguing over procedures and focus on what is needed to make a success of leaving the EU.

It may be true that most university dons are Remainers, but they lost the argument. They would serve their students far better if they turned their minds to mapping out Britain’s post-eu future, instead of telling them how they think the decision was wrong. The same goes for parliamentarians. With time running out, they need to spend more time discussing how Britain will look 10 or 20 years from now, rather than refighting the referendum. It is time to move on.