The thing that’s missing from our conversations about what’s going to happen with Brexit over the next few months is a crystal ball. On all sides of the debate efforts are being made to make the best of it without the benefit of foresight.

On the government side, civil service leave has been cancelled as plans for a no-deal exit are ramped up. Remainers continue their increasingly desperate plotting to thwart the prime minister’s political strategy while those on the hard leave side argue that Brexit is not a tsunami against which we have to build flood defences, but an economic opportunity to be grabbed with both hands. The quietest voices seem to be those of us in the trenches who, whatever the politicians decide, have to get on with business as unusual when our hand is finally dealt.

In the property development business, it’s the indecision and uncertainty that are causing the biggest problems. While we wait for the political outcome it’s easy to put off until tomorrow that which might be too risky to decide today. Funding is glacially slow and politicians on planning committees are shying away from difficult decisions lest their seats be threatened in coming local elections.

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