BREXIT! A word that possibly has you wanting to run for the hills at its very mention – and with good reason, writes Paul Follows, Lib Dem councillor and deputy leader of Waverley Borough Council.

It is one of the biggest issues of our time (for me second only to climate change) and the cause of a great deal of commotion, emotion, conflict and worry right across the country. A topic that seems to be governed almost wholly by the extremes of the debate and little else. The ideological blinkers need to come off on both sides.

In that spirit I will get the difficult bit out of the way at the start and be upfront about my own views. I am 33 years old, a Liberal Democrat and I voted to remain. I believe in free movement of people, I believe in the economic benefits of the single market, the defence of our rights as European citizens and of all EU citizens who live and work in this country.

Locally I am currently the deputy leader of Waverley Borough Council and (as leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Waverley) in partnership principally with the Farnham Residents party (but also reps from Green and Labour), to run the borough council. I believe in progressive politics, cooperation and that the extremes of politics rarely do anyone any good or lead to good decision-making.

If you are still reading after all of the above, hello and welcome!

What I am not going to do here is rehash the referendum. I want to talk about how Waverley Borough Council is being asked to prepare for ‘no deal’ and to present a purely factual account of a conference call that I attended between all council leaders in the UK and various government ministers. It is worth keeping in mind that the current government is of course pro-Brexit (and that their statements in public make clear that essentially everything will be ‘fine’).

The headline is that we (local government) are getting an extra £20m for ‘no-deal’ Brexit prep. But just to be clear, that money is divided between the 350 councils in England, and not evenly.

We will ultimately receive about £17k here in Waverley out of that funding.

Here are some of the key points from the call:

There is an assumption by government of financial hardship and severe disruption to trade (particularly in the agricultural sector and with the supply of medicines).

There is an assumption by government of disruption to businesses (particularly small and medium size businesses).

Although ‘opportunities’ from Brexit were discussed as a concept, those on the call did not actually articulate any examples.

Assumption that if we move to WTO rules (a likely outcome of ‘no-deal’) that there would be significant negative impacts.

That only one million EU nationals that need to register for settled status (out of around three million) have done so at present.

That vehicles will have to be waived across the frontier to prevent shortages.

It was also clear that there are still not really any detailed impact assessments to base any assumptions upon (good or bad). How therefore as a borough are we supposed to prepare for something the government have proven they do not wholly understand themselves?

443 jobs have been lost in Waverley, from firms that are non-UK owned and have withdrawn because of Brexit. When we factor in the supply chain it is likely more than that.

Ultimately, I am concerned for people’s livelihoods, their jobs and the economy. But it is much broader than that when look at health, social care, the defence of our rights and security (to name but a few). The government are at this point rushing headlong into ‘No-Deal’, seeking to curtail the ability of parliament to even discuss the issues at hand: maintaining an almost obsessive desire to not just ignore facts but to outright mislead the public by making directly contradictory statements.

However you might feel about Brexit, it is probably fair to say that there should a rational and realistic assessment of the facts, the risks and the opportunities. Ideology has been put before leadership and reality. Politicians in support of Brexit told us that ‘no-deal’ was both unacceptable and impossible, and with a deal being “one of the easiest in human history” – to quote one minister at the time.

We must take a step back from the precipice and look at this again.

The Herald welcomes all political leaders to submit op-eds on Brexit or other matters. Email [email protected].