I’ve made a rod for my back by using these first columns each January to have a look at the year ahead. 2017 needed to be a year of stability and normality after the tumult of the 2016. It turned out to be anything but. Which means the requirement for a quiet political year has been rolled forward to 2018.
Sadly, however, I fear that the year ahead will be no less politically colourful than the last. I’m pretty certain there won’t be a General Election in 2018 but the journey toward Brexit will continue to be challenging both in our negotiations with the EU and in the legislative process in Parliament.
In Westminster, attention will move quickly to the House of Lords where our unelected second chamber will be debating the EU Withdrawal Bill after it completes its passage through the House of Commons next week. One of the most interesting dynamics will be how Lib Dem politicians who have sought reform of the House of Lords for decades might now be tempted to use it to pursue their political aims after failing to win sufficient seats to make a difference in the Commons.
Make no mistake, the debate around Brexit is a serious one and Parliament has important work to do in making sure the Government is held to account. But my suspicion is that the overwhelming majority of the public will not take kindly to seeing unelected peers overly interfering in the process. It could be that the big political change of 2018 is a cross party consensus on the need for reform in the House of Lords.