I was being interviewed by the Financial Times last week about what, if anything, the by-election in Richmond Park meant to us in Somerset.
My sense is that to the vast majority of people the hard and soft Brexit debate has just become a proxy for those who were most animated by the In and Out debate in the first place. There are many people who write to me to say that they’re deeply concerned that the Government is ‘back sliding’ on Brexit whilst others are writing to say that the Government has no mandate to deliver any kind of ‘hard’ Brexit. For some, the Brexit debate will undoubtedly dominate the decision on how they vote in a General Election.
However, in meeting after meeting and visit after visit, when I’m out meeting the people who don’t normally write to the local newspaper or their MP, I pick up on something that is very different. No matter how people voted in June, it seems to me that the silent majority now just want some sensible, pragmatic policy making. They know that we’re unlikely to end up with a completely soft Brexit and we’re unlikely to end up with a completely hard one either. There will be a deal to be done that is somewhere in between. With that deal will come some threats but also some opportunities. There will be some pain and there will be some gain.
I’ve said a number of times in this column that we just need to get on with it. We really do. The debate now is no better than the debate before the referendum – both sides are indulging in wild optimism or pessimism in order to make their case. Most businesses and residents in the Wells Constituency seem to understand that the reality will be somewhere between those extremes. Wouldn’t it be great if we entered the New Year listening to them?