AS I write this I’m on my way to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool for a few days of lobbying, sore feet, curled up sandwiches and the annual game of dodge the weirdest protester – and believe me, you cannot be the weirdest protester at these things.

Somewhat depressingly, the conference is likely to be dominated by Brexit and internal party wrangling and probably won’t offer much in the way of a policy steer on the huge range of other issues affecting the country (I type this sitting on the wrong train facing a sprint across Manchester to even get to Liverpool after my train was cancelled, so forgive me if I’m a bit jaded).

It’s not just Labour, the Conservatives will face the same thing next week in Birmingham.

I don’t really want to talk about Brexit, but the country and its politicians seem to be unable to escape its pull and I imagine very little else will come on to the radar.

We are 188 days away from Brexit and as yet we know nothing, absolutely nothing, of what the future holds. More column inches will be written on this in the coming months so I don’t want to dwell here but it is an unacceptable situation

What it is doing is taking time, political capital and mental space away from the other issues facing employers. Transport is one, increasing pressure on the network will take investment and we need decisions.

Energy is another, 20 per cent of Britain’s energy generation capacity is due to go offline in 2024, and there is no firm plan in place to replace it and keep the lights on. Given the speed of decision making on any major investment in this country a policy is somewhat pressing.

Then we have skills and education, the changes to apprenticeships have been broadly accepted by employers but the apprenticeship levy is still confusing and does little for supply chains and implementation of the new T-Levels has a long way to go.

My point is that the political environment being so dominated by one (albeit fundamental) issue is masking all the other issues where we need to make progress if we are to avoid problems, in terms of energy, catastrophic ones, further down the line. We all want conclusions on Brexit and urgently but not just because of the future of our relationship with the EU but also because it is sucking the life out of all our public policy and that has to change.

*Rachel Anderson is assistant director of policy for the North East England Chamber of Commerce