The disaster Britain has spent a decade refusing to discuss

The most remarkable thing for me about Andy Burnham’s first address to the House of Commons as Prime Minister this week was his mention of the B-word. Even James O’Brien, the wise, witty and unmissable LBC radio host (and columnist for this paper) has had to wearily admit defeat and limit himself to just a few mentions of Brexit every week. It has become the thing that is not to be spoken of, a bit like Harry Potter’s nemesis Voldemort. Keir Starmer treated the whole subject like an embarrassing smell that was always present, but never talked about. But then Burnham called Brexit out for what it is: a “wrong turn” and the root of most of our economic ills and low growth. It’s worth remembering that, according to a report from Logistics UK, Brexit has lost us an estimated £11.7bn in exports every single year – that equates to £400 a household. Think of what could be done with such an enormous sum of money, especially when so many are struggling with basic food and fuel bills. As if that wasn’t enough of a wake-up call, an eye-watering 98.2 per cent of British businesses have said they want to rejoin the single market, according to research from European Movement UK. These are astonishing figures and I think they should be repeated as often as possible. Which is why it was so important that Burnham stood on his hind legs and opined that Brexit brought “a decade of low growth and stalled regeneration”. Here’s another thing. According to a new YouGov poll, 55 per cent of us agreed with the PM’s assessment that Brexit was a “wrong turn”. Twenty one per cent disagreed, 11 per cent said were undecided and 13 per cent said they did not know. I do understand that rolling-eyed boredom with the whole sorry subject of Brexit – and I also don’t blame people for voting to Leave 10 years ago. The Remain campaign was “led” half heartedly by a tepid and tetchy then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and David Cameron, who started the whole disaster in the first place. Remain underestimated the Leave campaigners who shamelessly used social media and new tech to amplify people’s darkest fears and targeted vulnerable people who felt no one was listening to them. Voters feeling worried about immigration had terror and dread whipped up by being warned of hordes of “foreigners” invading our green and pleasant land. This, despite the fact most European immigrants were over here to work, either as seasonal students in agriculture and hospitality, or settling down as skilled tradesmen and women. Politicians were not talking about people in small boats escaping hellholes outside of the EU, the likes of war zones and economic wastelands, but that was never properly corrected. Then there were our farmers and fisherman, shockingly overlooked and neglected by politicians for years, who thought anything would be better than being part of the EU, even with the subsidies. Surely, they reassured themselves, things could only improve by voting to leave and “taking back control”. Ask them now how they feel now. The highly entertaining and often moving TV show Clarkson’s Farm has shown how tough it is to make a living by working your bollocks off, every hour of the day, in all weathers, to grow British food. Jeremy Clarkson’s befuddled and weary face when told he has made thruppence worth profit after pulling all-nighters in freezing storms says it all. And he has the might and money of Amazon at his back. For other farmers struggling to make a living, it’s been a disaster. There’s as many of those despised, complicated forms to fill in and far too often crops remain unharvested because there are no young European students to help bring in the harvest. Those of us lucky enough to afford to still go to Europe on holiday are well aware of long, frustrating passport control queues for us Brits, segregated from other Europeans including our pals with Irish passports, who give us a cheery wave on their way to a stress-free quick entry and exit. There is no the doubt the European Union was, and indeed still is a bloated, impossibly impenetrable tangle of red tape. It needs a bloody good tidy up, but that’s exactly what we Brits are good at. Instead of flouncing off, we should have rolled up our sleeves and jolly well fixed the problem. Yet here we are with noses pressed up against the windows where there’s a party going on inside, albeit a dull one mainly organised by the Germans. But surely it is far better to be in the room where vital decisions are decided and deals brokered than outside in the cold? There can be no doubt that 10 years down the line we are weaker, less safe and more divided than ever before. It’s been a monumental disaster. I don’t, however, see us doing a screeching U-turn. Despite Andy Burnham highlighting the disaster that is Brexit, we will probably be left with a half-in-half-out-half-arsed mess that annoys the hell out of everyone, and just have to keep muddling along. But at least we are finally talking about it. This week I have… mostly been sharpening my pencils and looking out my best bib and tucker for going back to work on Monday. It’s been a brilliant summer. My daughter Rosie married her Steve on a glorious and sunny day in Scotland in front of friends and family. I also took Rosie and my granddaughter Billie on a trip to Orkney where the sun also shone down upon us. We caught a ferry from Kirkwall for a day trip to the glorious island of Sanday – a chilly Maldives with pure white sands and turquoise sea. I had to go in for a quick dook with the seals and it was magical. Now though it’s back to normal. See you Monday 9.30am on ITV.