I feel a bit nervous writing this column. The situation in Parliament is changing by the minute. It is quite possible it will have changed quite a bit between when I start to write this and when I finish. What state things will be in when you actually get to read this I have no idea.

Of course I am talking about the Brexit debate.

What else is going on in Parliament at the moment?

This is one of my big problems with Brexit now.

It’s not been easy but I have managed to get a debate in Parliament next week on flooding in Cumbria. This is a really important issue that needs to be discussed. I plan to use the time to ask the Government to review its funding formula to take more account of the fact that Cumbria is the wettest place in the country and the need to simply get on with flood prevention schemes all around our area. I just wish I could be confident that the Government will be listening.

Take another example. I was lucky enough to be called to put a question to the Prime Minister the other day (before her sore throat get really bad) and used it to ask her to call on banks to compensate communities when they close their branches. Sadly she refused to commit to intervene saying that branch closure was a commercial decision she was not going to get involved in. But given how much effort she has been putting into the Brexit issue I doubt she has the energy to actually look at anything else.

Another example, many of you will have received a letter from your children’s school asking you to lobby the Government over funding. Our schools have had to cope with £2.4 million in funding cuts over the past 5 years with the result that they have had to reduce staff and provide less support for children with special educational needs. I made a point of speaking in the debate on this issue because it is really important. I have spoken to teachers about this problem many times. But the Minister of Education has not been able to find the time to meet with the head teachers to discuss things. I cannot for the life of me work out why an Education Minister should be tied up with Brexit but I can think of no other explanation for why he could not fit a meeting into his diary.

I hope by the time you read this things are clearer, in whatever way that happens to be.