With campaigning for next month's local elections now in full swing, I have a proposition: we ban the ‘B' word. No ifs, no buts – Brexit shall not be uttered on the doorstep.

I also have a prediction: those that heed this advice will be rewarded for it on 2 May. After all, these elections should be about local issues and based on local records in office, not influenced by the miasma of Brexit or the in-fighting of Westminster, both of which regrettably continue to saturate great swathes of our public discourse.