Brexit’s not easy. The UK could really use good leadership right now.
But the Government is in total chaos.
MPs will this week debate the EU Withdrawal Bill - the law that actually makes Brexit happen.
This is the legislation that repeals the 1972 European Communities Act, which took the UK into what was then called the European Community.
MPs will hold votes on important questions like whether the UK should join what’s called the European Economic Area after Brexit.
This would mean we stayed in the EU single market - which would be good for business but would also mean we keep some sort of Freedom of Movement with the EU. That might upset people who voted for Brexit because they wanted to cut immigration.
So there are big issues to discuss.
But the Government is incapable of showing leadership.
Theresa May was last week locked in a row with her Brexit Secretary, David Davis.
She managed to settle that without Mr Davis resigning. But then she was faced another problem, when it emerged her Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, had criticised the Government’s Brexit policy in a private speech.
Mr Johnson, a supporter of Brexit, complained that the Government had been so soft on the EU that we might end up not really leaving at all.
He said: “Unless you make the change, unless you have the guts to go for the independent policy, you’re never going to get the economic benefits of Brexit ... The risk is that we will end up in a sort of anteroom of the EU, with an orbit around the EU, in a customs union and to a large extent in the single market. So not really having full freedom.”
The good news - from his point of view - was that Mrs May is apparently planning to start getting tough with Brussels.
He warned: “I think Theresa is going to go into a phase where we are much more combative with Brussels. You’ve got to face the fact there may now be a meltdown. OK? I don’t want anybody to panic during the meltdown. No panic.”
So what’s been holding her back so far?
According to Mr Johnson - and other Brexit-backers - the problem is the Treasury, led by Chancellor Philip Hammond.
This highlights the real problem. The Government is so divided, it can’t agree on what it wants.
That means we’ve hardly begun to start meaningful talks with the EU about a deal.
But the plan is meant to be to get an agreement by October, so that it can be approved by various parliaments before we leave the EU in March 2019.
There’s not long left.
