At any time you can make things out to be bigger than they actually are, you can add 'hype' to give extra visibility and more lurid coverage however the Brexit process right now is undoubtedly big.
The minute detail of the proposed deal are mystery to most and the negotiations that led to them were locked behind closed doors. All we can do is sit back and watch it unfold, or is it?
You see, the future of our country will be decided by a group of 640 odd elected representatives at Westminster. The decision made in the referendum by over 30 million voters will be added direction by a vote that will come in the next 7 days. Right now, there is a real possibility that this small group of people from all over the UK will make a right mess of it, perhaps intentionally.
You see this group have a clear instruction from the electorate, leave the European Union. However there are some who clearly wish the result were different and wish to frustrate and overturn it. There are those who wish to pursue a vision of Brexit that seems at odds with the issues that led to the decision and there are those for whom the current deal doesn't go far enough and will vote against it because it doesn't match their vision of what Brexit should be. The bickering is sickening and shameful when what is required is, perhaps just for once, a coming together in the national interest.
There is one other group we haven't yet mentioned. Those in the middle seeking some kind of compromise. A group, we are yet to know how many, who see the deal the Prime Ministers deal as some kind way forward, however imperfect it maybe.
Yes, that is right. The deal is imperfect but that is what you get with a compromise. Personally speaking the so called 'backstop' on the Irish border causes me great concern but we are to hope that the backstop is just that, a backstop. You may have examples of your own.
So now we are standing on the outside and wondering just how seriously some of these MP's take the instruction they were given and our voice needs to be raised. This is not some kind ego measuring contest, it's time for the practical solution we all need to see.
So if you are a Scottish Nationalist MP claiming you can ignore the will of the UK because you are only concerned with Scotland you need to realise you are morally bound by the vote even if you are not in agreement with the result.
If you are an MP wedded to the idea of some kind of Single Market solution you have to ask how being bound to the rules of the Single Market answers the questions of the referendum. How being bound into the customs union makes any discernible difference from our existing situation. Such a solution is a smoke and mirrors trick that is Brexit in name only.
If you are an MP wedded to an outlying alternative that has no prospect of getting through Parliament then you have a duty to compromise. In fact everyone has an obligation to come together and agree a compromise.
Where is that compromise? It's sitting with the Prime Minister as we speak. It's not an eye catching proposal, it isn't an ideologically pure position to please one faction or the other and some might say it's an unseemly bolt together of various ideas but its on the table and it is something that has been agreed. It's not mere theory, it's an available way forward.
So what happens now? The proposal could fall, the Prime Minister and government could conceivably follow too. And then what? A no deal exit from the European Union ? A General election perhaps but the problems would still exist. There are those who would seek another referendum to overturn the first and stop the uncertainty that way but that would only prove one thing, that the very people we send to Westminster couldn't organise the one thing they were specifically told to do. That last point isn't party political because, believe me, if this thing goes South there will be plenty of blame to spread everywhere.
So where does that leave us? It leaves us on the outside looking in. It leaves the people who send MP's to Westminster to stand up and say ,"This is not good enough". It leaves people like me saying, "You have one big job to do, so do it". It needs all of to say we have this one chance for the very politicians of all persuasions we elect to reach out across the chamber and make it happen. This is the time for that word again, compromise!
Will Jennings is a Hugglescote Parish Councillor
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