The Brexit shambles continues and, from the many emails I’ve received this week, I know how concerned Stroud people are.

I share that concern and hope that Parliament can now find a positive way forward.

I will be supporting votes which lead to a customs union, market alignment and protection of common rights and I also believe we have reached a point where any Brexit deal must, in due course, have the approval of the electorate.

Of course, the situation changes daily, even hourly, and I will attempt to keep you up to date via my website.

Sadly, the Brexit shambles is likely to drown out the publication on Thursday of the government’s latest statistics on poverty.

The data are expected to show how many people are being locked into poverty.

Last year’s figures showed 14 million trapped in poverty, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that over the past five years poverty rates have particularly risen for children and pensioners.

The statistics come just weeks after the Spring Statement, which presented a rosy picture by showcasing the government’s employment figures.

But employment figures mask the fact that 3m people work fewer than 15 hours a week in our insecure, low-wage economy.

In-work poverty is rising faster than employment, particularly for lone parents.

In the UK, eight million people in poverty live in a working household and working families with children are most likely to be locked in poverty.

For too many people, work is not a way out of poverty. Any earnings growth is wiped out by cuts to tax credits and the rising cost of living.

Brexit has highlighted the desperate need to rebuild our fractured society. Tackling in-work poverty will be a key part of that.