Like many families this weekend, we were checking that school uniforms (and suits!) would still fit and I was trying to remember in which ‘safe place’ I’d left my parliamentary pass. Returning to Westminster is a great privilege but after six weeks of being at home, I’m missing Somerset already.
Back here in Parliament, Brexit looms large on the agenda as we debate for the first time the EU Withdrawal Bill. Some of my most regular correspondents have been busy sending me emails encouraging that I ‘represent the views of my constituents’ either by voting for or against the legislation depending on which side of the debate they sit on. The reality, however, is that this is the second reading of the Bill and so Parliament is simply agreeing to the broad principles set out within. I have already voted to enact Article 50 and throughout the General Election campaign, I was clear that although I voted to remain, I fully understood that the majority in my constituency had voted another way.
This week, I’ll be supporting the Government on the EU Withdrawal Bill at Second Reading but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to some of the things that are quite sensibly being discussed about how to deliver the best Brexit for the UK and for our community in Somerset. My mail bag makes it only too clear that there is a real impatience with the process. Some want it all voted for and done now. Others want it stopped in its tracks. The reality is that Brexit is an extraordinarily complex process. Not only will the negotiations be drawn out and challenging but so will the legislative process that is required to underpin whatever deal the Government strikes.