It’s not often you can say it without being trite, but, wow, what a week.

Any if anything became clear following a tumultuous five days which involved a heavily defeated Brexit Withdrawal Bill, a narrowly defeated no confidence vote in the Government, and the apparent collapse of another new nuclear power station project, is that there is a severe lack of leadership from high up.

Tackling Brexit first, it is clear, following the Brexit Withdrawal Bill defeat, that a new plan is needed - and needed quick.

Businesses are being urged to prepare for a no-deal Brexit by everyone from the CBI and British Chambers of Commerce through to the Institute of Directors and accountancy firm EY.

It has always been the default position and frankly, with the benefit of a huge dose of hindsight, one that businesses should have been getting prepared for over two years ago when the people of the UK voted to leave the European Union.

Because, the whole process ever since has been in the hands of those who (with what they will argue best intentions) have been leading the UK down that path all along.

While Theresa May has attempted to thunder along and secure a deal almost singled-handedly with EU counterparts intent on making life as difficult as possible, the opposition has stood by and failed to grasp the issue.

At least this week an olive branch was offered across the floor in Parliament, but is it going to be too little too late? 

And if any consensus is to be achieved then it is going to require a grown-up approach, where politics is going to have to be put to one side, or at least marginalised, for the good of the nation – its people and businesses.

However, watching the slanging matches going on in and outside Parliament, and the general behaviour and attitude of many key players, it is hard to see this happen.

In the meantime, businesses continue to stare down the barrel of an uncertain future. It has become abundantly clear that the economy in Cumbria, and the country as a whole, is being held back.

Businesses aren’t investing as they did. They aren’t growing as they did. Instead, they are bogged down in contingency planning, on top of the day-to-day challenge of trying to survive and grow in difficult economic conditions.

I am still gobsmacked by the revelation from Barry Leahey MBE, the boss of Playdale Playgrounds, that Brexit contingency planning is taking up around 85 per cent of its export team’s time – time that would be better spent on its drive to conquer the world.

Meanwhile, property transactions, mergers and acquisitions are being put on ice, as owners weigh up whether it is a good time to sell and buyers debate whether the timing is right to buy or not.

There is only so long this can continue until something gives. 

I’ve heard it said a lot that journalists love Brexit because of the licence it gives them to go off and write whatever they want.

I can’t say that this is true for me, or my colleagues reporting from a business perspective. 

To be honest, when you sit opposite businesses people, as we do, and see in their eyes the look of frustration, desperation and downright bewilderment, it fills you with despair more than anything else.

For the sake of the nation, it is time for the politicians to grow up and show the leadership businesses are continuing to valiantly display in spite of all the chaos around them.

On the subject of chaos, you then have the Government’s policy on nuclear new build.

Former Nuclear Decommissioning Authority boss, John Clarke, recently told me the Government’s wider energy policy was neither fish nor fowl.

I think that is a very polite way of describing what is clearly a dog’s breakfast.

Hitachi’s decision to halt the Wylfa Newydd power station in Anglesey was a shock to some, but not many in the industry.

Having followed the slow and painful death of NuGen and its Moorside plan, it is hard to see what is being presented as mothballing is actually the start of an orderly withdrawal.

Again, something has happened behind the scenes when it comes to the Government’s approach to supporting the project.

Some say it was the strike price demanded by the Government and that it is way lower that the astronomical price set for Hinkley Point C – the only one of what was to be a fleet of six shiny new stations in Britain’s nuclear renaissance, to actually be under construction.

Others say the Japanese Government’s enthusiasm is waning. Or could it be that the dreaded Regulated Asset Base Model has been mooted and sent shivers down the spine of Hitachi in the same way it did with Kepco when it emerged as the way to support Moorside?

The harsh reality is that Moorside has gone (for now), Wylfa Newydd could soon be joining it. Plans for Oldbury, although a long-way off, have also been shelved, while Sizewell C faces an uphill struggle and, according to reports, those behind Bradwell B are having second thoughts.

If the Government wants nuclear then there needs to be a huge injection of leadership and clarity, instead of its current wishy-washy approach and continual moving of the goalposts.

If it wants nuclear then it either needs to invest directly or cosy up to the Chinese. China General Nuclear Power Group appear more than happy to build as many as the UK wants, but the current Government is wary and has concerns over national security.

As always, there’s a debate as to whether nuclear is needed at all. For those against, I would argue the Government is doing a pretty good job of killing it off. Leave them to it.

But it seems odd for a Government that continues to stress it wants an energy mix that includes nuclear.

At stake is whether we can be confident the light bulb will turn on when we flick a switch. And whether that energy is coming from renewable or low carbon sources rather than the fossil fuels we really need to start leaving in the ground if we are to stop what could be a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.

The repercussions of not getting it right, from social and environmental perspectives, is huge.

And it requires big and bold leadership. There is a vacancy going. Who fancies it?