Star comment: Waiting for history to kick on in

And, one year on, it is history which hasn’t... actually... happened... yet.

In the 12 months since that momentous decision, much water has flowed under the bridge. But Britain remains a member of the European Union and nobody can say what the exit from the EU is going to look like.

It has not been a wasted year. In some ways it is worse than being wasted, thanks to Theresa May’s decision to call a needless election on Brexit which had the exact opposite effect to that which she intended. Instead of providing clarity and certainty, it muddied the waters and made her negotiating hand at the EU table weaker as the talks get under way in earnest.

Many who voted to leave the EU will feel let down by the way things have turned out so far. Many who voted to remain in the EU will be yet more fearful about the consequences of departure.

Amid all the variables and unknowns, the election did deliver something concrete. The result in which the Conservatives and Labour together gained by far the greatest share of the votes means that Brexit is going to happen, as both parties are committed to Brexit. It is the form it will take which is at issue.

However much debate there may be at home, the United Kingdom has limited power to shape the outcome. It is, after all, a negotiation. The EU can give, or it can not give, or it might not be able to make up its collective mind in any reasonable timescale, being a bureaucratic organisation with many national interests to accommodate and being institutionally incapable of quick decision-making.

The talk of transitional arrangements by politicians like Philip Hammond also suggests that the ground is being laid for a long goodbye which will include a period in which Britain is neither in the EU but not fully out either.

Much focus has been on the economic impact. Mr Hammond said the British people did not vote to make themselves poorer. But they did vote with more than simply economic considerations in mind.

The optimistic young who voted in the 1970s for Britain to stay in the Common Market, as it was then, are the same people who, disillusioned with how things turned out, in 2016 voted for Britain to leave. Theresa May’s stated aim is to get the best Brexit deal possible. She has not made it any easier for herself – or for Britain.