The Yorkshire Post Says: Brexit steps into the Westminster limelight

As Brexit takes centre-stage at Westminster, Britain's politicians need to remember why the country voted to leave the European Union rather than becoming too fixated with increasingly bitter arguments amongst themselves.

Not only were taxpayers fed up with taking orders from an unelected and unaccountable Brussels elite, but many had endured the longest period of earnings stagnation for 150 years. They’d simply had enough.

Yet, because the process of Brexit is becoming so nuanced as rival politicians and parties seek advantage, Ministers, MPs and peers are losing sight of the fact that the country expects them to secure the deal that is in best long-term interests of the economy and it is high time they started pulling in the same direction.

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For, unless this country’s leaders start coalescing around a clear negotiating strategy, the resulting uncertainty will only damage business confidence still further and exacerbate the misgivings expressed in today’s report by the IPPR think-tank. Its commission on economic injustice, whose members include notable figures like the Archbishop of Canterbury, highlights the extent to which gains from growth have gone largely into profits rather than the wages of staff concerned.

In many respects, the conclusions chime with the themes highlighted by Theresa May when she became Prime Minister. The regret is some of the more worthy ideas will not come to pass because the Tory leader is so weakened – politically and by Brexit – that her Government simply does not know how to break this self-perpetuating cycle that sees the rich become richer and the poor poorer.