The uncertainty about where this country is headed is now very damaging. The new government, having made a promising start, has gone very quiet, not only over where we are going, but solutions to local frustrations like Southern Rail. It is summer we know, but the people did not call the referendum, the government did. Cameron promised that he would stay and take the country out if that was what it voted for; a promise he broke within minutes of the result. We thought the arrival of another strong woman at the helm would bring a new sense of urgency to a rudderless muddle. But has it?
It is not in order for the new Chancellor to sit on his hands and meditate until his Autumn Statement in November. The Bank of England can manage the financial system but not the wider economy now in crisis. Political decisions are demanded by events and cannot be docked until a moment of convenience. The Chancellor must as a matter of urgency paint the big picture, point the direction of travel or however you want to put it, and he must do that now or admit he is clueless and not up to the challenge. The details can then be fleshed out in the Autumn Statement.
He argues that time is needed. Maybe. But time is not on his side.