Mark Casci: We must not allow Brexit bickering to talk our way into recession

Unquestionably the most amusing, if deeply risible development, was the establishing of an online petition by a Conservative councillor who wants to have opposition to Brexit made an act of treason, an offensive which carries a life term if convicted there of. This ridiculous move had attracted more than a hundred signatures at the time of writing this and provided some light relief amid another week of mudslinging on both sides.

While the rest of us are getting on with our lives and accepting the verdict the poll rendered it seems many in our political classes simply cannot let it go.

Yesterday former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg kept the scaremongering going, warning that pretty much everything in our kitchen cupboards would become astronomically expensive if we opt for “hard Brexit”.

Consumers we were told would face a 59 per cent levy on beef, 38 per cent on chocolate, 40 per cent on New Zealand lamb and 14 per cent on Chilean wine if we lost our access to the Single Market.

I think I speak for many in saying I am dismayed to see that this kind of rhetoric is still invading our national psyche.

Do threats regarding massive increases in our food bills help inform and shape the debate about what kind of nation we are to be following our departure from the European Union?

Does potentially imprisoning some 16 million people who voted for something you disagreed with help to build bridges and win hearts and minds.

Or does it serve only to continue to perpetuate divisions and create tensions that push us apart, make our country look silly and talk down our economy?

I am not saying that we do not need scrutiny of the Brexit process. There is palpable concern from business leaders about the best way to extricate ourselves from the 43 years-worth of entanglements we have with Europe.

Last week the CBI expressed alarm about the effects of hard Brexit on our economy while prominent Brexiter Lord Wolfson of Next stated his desire for us to remain members of the single market, a move which would almost certainly involve us retaining freedom of movement for EU citizens in and out of the UK and one of principal motivations for people wishing us to the leave the EU in the first place.

Essentially we are seeing the Brexit camp split into two, those who favour us retaining some EU membership and others who want us out lock, stock and barrel.

Cool heads must be maintained to prevent any further factionalism. I was dismayed to see a cross-party group of MPs demanding that the Brexit package Theresa May’s Government comes up with be put to a parliamentary vote for approval, not because I disagree with the sentiment but because it is almost willing the talks to fail.

It has provided the Leave camp with ammunition to claim that MPs may block the will of the British people and meant that one political neologism in Brexit has now begat another neologism, Bremoaner - a phrase coined from Leave campaigner leaders to mock anybody who expresses dissent or criticism of the process.

This constant bickering and scare-mongering is more than political theatre, it is undermining our national unity and if unchecked could very quickly see us argue ourselves into a recession.

Reports today showed SME confidence to be high despite misgivings over the economy. We need to harness this positivity.

The posturing has to end and our political classes must step up and lead as we enter a challenging and critically important chapter in our history.

Otherwise we are merely spectators yelling at the boxing ring more than 100 days after the fight has ended.