Political leaders, Labour and Conservative, seem to live in a parallel universe when it comes to Brexit. As every day brings more news of the potential devastation caused by leaving the EU, Messrs Corbyn, McDonnell, Johnson, Davies, Fox and Mrs May carry on blithely dissing any compromise on the single market and customs unions.

The latest bad news came from the respected Centre for Cities, whose previous head now runs the Industrial Strategy for business secretary Greg Clark. Considering that the lynchpin of this strategy is to ‘big up’ cities, economically and politically, it is odd that ministers (though not Mr Clark it must be said) appear to wilfully ignore that Brexit will achieve precisely the opposite. In turn, it is extraordinary that Labour’s leadership appears untroubled about the fact so many of its voters will be the worst hit by a bad Brexit deal.