Shropshire Star comment: Brexit has shown flaw in system

Theresa May’s term in office has seen an extraordinary record in terms of turnover.

You could form three football teams out of the ministers who have quit in the past 12 months, and still have a couple of substitutes to spare.

Brexit minister Chris Heaton-Harris is the 36th to go... and counting.

Some have quit on matters of principle, some to give them freedom to vote in a particular way, and Mr Heaton-Harris quit his post insisting that the UK should have left the EU on March 29 as scheduled.

This is no way to run a government – a disjointed machine with minimal continuity.

It is more or less literally an administration in which you don’t know whether people are coming or going.

Things are not much better over on the Labour side either, and with a core of mainly Labour MPs breaking away to form a new party, they are arguably worse off, although the difference is that the opposition is not charged with running the country.

Overwhelmingly, it is Brexit which has turned the politically abnormal into the new normality.

The fault lines do not run on purely party political lines. The Conservatives and Labour are internally divided and there are little divisions and differences of emphasis even among those MPs who are broadly agreeing. For instance, there are those who may want a second referendum, but have different ideas of what should be on the ballot paper.

The way out of this mess sounds trite. It is for MPs to co-operate, and to work together in the national interest.

The British system is not geared for this. One party wins the general election and rules, and the others don’t.

They are the losers. In other European countries there is more of a culture of forming coalitions.

No one party has control, so they have to work together in a spirit of compromise and negotiation. After her general election rebuff, Theresa May has tried to mould the Parliamentary arithmetic with her own narrow coalition of convenience with the DUP. We have all seen the pitfalls of that. Belatedly, she has reached out to Jeremy Corbyn.

It’s a trick, cry Tory MPs. It’s a trap, cry Labour MPs.

Brexit has stress-tested the British political system – and left it broken and looking not fit for purpose.

Here is the full list of departed ministers:

1. Amber Rudd, Home Office, April 2018

2. Phillip Lee, Justice, June

3. Greg Hands, Trade, June

4. David Davis, Brexity, July

5. Steve Baker, Brexit, July

6. Boris Johnson, Foreign Office, July

7. Conor Burns, Foreign Office, July

8. Chris Green, Transport, July

9. Andrew Griffiths, Business, July

10. Robert Courts, Foreign Office, July

11. Scott Mann, Treasury, July

12. Guto Bebb, Defence Minister, July

13. Tracey Crouch, Sports, November

14. Jo Johnson, Transport, November

15. Shailesh Vara, Northern Ireland, Nov

16. Dominic Raab, Brexit, November

17. Esther McVey, Work & Pensions, Nov

18. Suella Braverman, Brexit, November

19. Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Education, Nov

20. Ranil Jayawardena, Justice, November

21. Rehman Chishti, Trade, November

22. Sam Gyimah, Universities, November

23. Will Quince, Defence, December

24. James O’Shaughnessy, Whip, Dec

25. Gareth Johnson, Whip, January

26. Craig Tracey, Int Development, Jan

27. Eddie Hughes, Brexit January

28. Alberto Costa, Scotland, February

29. George Eustice, Agriculture, Feb

30. Paul Masterton, Home Office, March

31. Sarah Newton, Work, March

32. Richard Harrington, Business, March

33. Alistair Burt, Middle East, March

34. Steve Brine, Health, March

35. Nigel Adams, Wales, April

36. Chris Heaton-Harris, Brexit. April