It’s great to have the opportunity to write regularly in the WO.

Be it on the bus; the train, in the pub, in the workplace, or the school run, there’s one thing on everyone’s mind at the moment - other than paying those Christmas bills - and it’s Brexit. It's a daily talking point and everyone’s got a view.

As an optimist, I always try to think the best of people. I feel Theresa May did her best to secure an EU withdrawal agreement, but that this has been found wanting. I personally found myself against the government’s deal as it didn’t secure membership of a customs union, environmental protections and workers’ rights; it would have made Watford worse off.

It did have good parts, such as the backstop, which provides a guarantee of peace in Northern Ireland. We don’t want the old troubles back.

Theresa May’s problems are, to a large part, of her own making. She used to say it's her deal or no-deal but is now being sent back to Brussels on a fool’s errand, having had her own deal trashed.

Suddenly she's making promises that she had said were impossible to deliver just a few days before. She knows it’s impossible to have a withdrawal agreement without a permanent backstop, while keeping the UK outside the customs union, but she pretends otherwise.

We have a government that limps on - all at sea and rudderless. Not so much taking back control as out of control.

I sense voters are both bored of Brexit and terrified by it. I can see why a 'no deal' Brexit will be a disaster for Watford. And all the while, in other news, our schools need to be better equipped and we must end the funding crisis in the NHS and social care. This government just isn't working.

  • Chris Ostrowski is Labour Parliamentary candidate for Watford