Britain’s future is about more than its departure from the EU

It will not come as news to readers of this newspaper that Brexit has exposed (if not exacerbated) certain rifts in British society: young versus old, metropolitan versus rural, graduates versus non-graduates.

In fact, according to a poll by Opinium, 69 per cent of us feel that Britain has become more divided since the referendum.

Today, a new all-party parliamentary group has launched to tackle this challenge. Spearheaded by Labour’s Stephen Kinnock and joined by MPs from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, its noble aim is to reunite the country and “start a national conversation focused on building bridges, for the sake of future generations”.

While Brexit is itself a divisive issue, part of the problem has been the near-total policy vacuum that has engulfed Westminster for the past two and a half years.

While the Prime Minister has been focused on frogmarching her cabinet towards some kind of Brexit resolution, other crucial issues have been paid vague lip service in place of the attention that they deserve.

From the housing crisis, which sees a cohort of young people locked out of ever owning a home, to the looming pressures on the NHS and social care brought about by an ageing population, to the transformative yet disruptive power of technology, a myopic political focus on our departure from the EU has crowded out vital areas of the policy debate.

These are issues which have direct, immediate and long-term consequences for the vast majority of people in this country. It is not that the public doesn’t care about Britain’s relationship with the EU, but for most people talk of Article 50 extensions and endless Brexit amendments are eclipsed by the pressing issues of ensuring the security and prosperity of themselves and their families – and justifiably so.

With yet another round of parliamentary votes looming, it can feel as though Brexit has become the be all and end all of British politics – fracturing the party system and dominating all areas of debate.

Yet however torturous the process, there will eventually come a time when Brexit is behind us, and our parliamentarians should be thinking ahead now about how to heal the divisions of the last few years and tackle some of the challenges that have exacerbated them.

This new initiative from Kinnock and his colleagues is a good start, but will prove insufficient without a realisation from all parties that Britain’s future is about more than the manner of its departure from the EU.