Star comment: Put petty squabbles to one side
When the British people voted to leave the European Union a little more than a year ago, few would have expected the position we now find ourselves in.
Brexit was always likely to be a lengthy and complex process, but here we are 12 months down the line and in terms of our future outside the bloc, not much appears to have changed.
When it comes to understanding our future relationship with the single market and the customs union, we are, to some extent, still in the dark.
Our position on the red line issue of freedom of movement is still unclear, as are the post-Brexit levels of co-operation we can expect on policing, law enforcement and security.
Part of the problem is the failings of our major political parties that have been exposed at various times over the course of the last year.
The Conservatives have turned a position of strength into one of unimaginable weakness, meaning any hopes the Government had of a free run on Brexit have now fallen by the wayside.
Theresa May’s propped up administration already appears to be creaking, with Cabinet divisions over the EU starting to emerge.
Labour spent months floundering after the referendum, seemingly without any coherent plan in place over how to hold the Government to account on the issue.
Jeremy Corbyn may well be riding the crest of the wave after the ‘achievement’ of only getting 55 seats fewer than the Tories in the election, but Labour’s Brexit message is confused at best.
As for UKIP, former leader Nigel Farage admits his party became irrelevant on June 8 and now faces a battle to stop itself from lurching towards the far right. With so much time and energy being devoted to internal strife, there is a real danger that our politicians will take their eyes off the prize.
The focus for all of them should be on getting the very best out of the talks with our European neighbours.
When 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU, they did so on the understanding that our Government would be able to guide the country through the process.
This already tricky task is not helped in any way by inter-party divisions and backbiting. It is time for our lawmakers to put their petty squabbles to one side and do their democratic duty. The focus must be solely on delivering Brexit.
