Theresa May's government scraped through 2017. After so very nearly sinking themselves with an unnecessary and opportunistic election, the May Ministry survived a number of crises and scandals to make it into 2018.
However, all of that minority government firefighting leaves little time for governing - and what little time the May government had was gobbled up by Brexit. In 2018, it seems likely that this pattern will continue and Brexit will deny sorely needed attention to far more pressing matters.
The government made it clear this was how things would be when they announced their unambitious Queens Speech, with their pledges now just watered down versions of their manifesto and spread thin over two years - so the government could focus on Brexit.
Even those pledges that did survive have made little progress.
The proposed Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill has yet to make it's appearance - while a few elements are cropping up in other bills, like issues affecting tenancy. The draft Tenant Fees Bill was only published in November, with the Committee of Communities and Local Government still gathering evidence.
Both of these will have to wait until 2018 is well underway before they see action and - the Tenant Fees Bill in particular - is going to be a hit with a lot of lobbying before it reaches its final form. It already largely conforms to present market standards that align far more landlords interests than tenants.
Promises on electric cars made it into the cutdown Queen's Speech, but only translated into £500m for charging points in the budget. A High Speed 2 rail pledge followed on the heels of an announcement to cut rail works plans for Wales and the North. Electrification estimates tripled in cost from £900mn to £2.8bn, so were pushed back, and are now cancelled. They were not offset by the less than £2bn in the budget to be split between the transport budgets of six city regions.
Repeated promises of action on homebuilding have born little fruit. The budget offered little but work arounds and tweaks, all attempts to nudge the housing sector rather than take action. It's unlikely anyone will be holding their breath that this will change in 2018.
Even the government's deeply prioritised Brexit made slow progress.
Negotiations were a tortuous embarrassment, with the government talking itself in circles of redlines - that could do nothing to change the fact that, despite having ruled out accepting the EU's position, they had little option other than to accept it.
And was only the preliminaries, getting the UK government to honour its word and its commitments. Concerns will be high as the UK government moves into the next phase, which includes trying to push through the Brexit Bills - domestic elements of the exit process.
Concern is rooted in the unending determination of the government to limit oversight and transparency in everything they do. May's team particularly want a free hand to negotiate future trade deals, awakening fears of shady deals with human rights abusers that undercut basic standards of workers' rights and quality of goods.
Fears have not been assuaged by the obvious lack of planning. Are there impact studies, or not? The government has gone out of their way to avoid reassuring anyone with any kind of data or fact.
One of the few part of the government's plans for post-Brexit to have been discussed was for agriculture post-Brexit - previewed over the Christmas-New Year week by Michael Gove. He made a pledge of funds to incentivise environmentally friendly land management, but concerns remain over trade deals undermining farmers.
The Tories made a huge mistake becoming embroiled in Brexit and Theresa May doubled down on it. Now, important domestic matters have been deprioritised. A second consecutive winter of the NHS in crisis should be considered an omen of what to expect in public services in the year ahead.
While the Tories have been playing at being 'statesmen', pouring their attention into Brexit - a policy that is epochal for all the wrong reasons - they have let domestic matters slide into chaos.
The NHS is cash starved and stretched beyond capacity and the best that the government was able to say was that the tens of thousands of cancelled operations 'were all part of the plan'. What kind of planning is that? Why would that be reassuring?
It is worth remembering that while Churchill led Britain through the war and the Tories held the outward-looking Great Offices of State, they lost the election held at the war's end. They were beaten by Clement Atlee and Labour, who had busied themselves on the Home Front - in the Home Affairs Ministry, with Agriculture and Fisheries, Education, Fuel, Labour, Pensions and the Board of Trade.
It is a dangerous move for any government to get caught playing statesman and forget to tend to the mundane matters of governing.
Housing, healthcare, welfare. All of these matters need determined attention in 2018 - and all of them are intricately entwined with rights, conditions and pay in the workplace. Domestically, Britain has become an anxious and precarious place under the Tories' idle supervision. How much longer can a blind eye be tolerated?
References
'Queen's Speech summary: Bill-by-bill at a glance'; on the BBC; 26 July 2017.
'Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill'; in Hansard - Volume 787; 27 November 2017.
'Policy paper: Draft Tenant Fees Bill - The draft Tenant Fees Bill sets out the government’s approach to banning letting fees paid by tenants'; from the Department for Communities and Local Government; 1 November 2017.
'Draft Tenant Fees Bill inquiry', for the Committee of Communities and Local Government; from Parliament; as of 8 January 2017.
'Rail electrification plans scrapped by government'; on the BBC; 20 July 2017.
'Summary of Budget 2017: Key points at-a-glance - Philip Hammond has delivered his second Budget as chancellor. Here are the key points of his speech'; on the BBC; 22 November 2017
'Budget 2017: Cautious Hammond has salves not solutions, as Budget falls short of action'; in The Alternative; 22 November 2017.
Laurie Macfarlane's 'Five economic issues to mobilise around in 2018'; on Open Democracy; 5 January 2018.
'Farmers to receive environmental payments after Brexit'; on the BBC; 4 January 2018.
Zoe Williams' 'With the NHS, reality has finally caught up with Theresa May: The prime minister’s evasions and blandness used to work. But the winter crisis has left her floundering, and with no plan to end the misery'; in The Guardian; 7 January 2018.
Ben Kentish's 'NHS winter crisis: Theresa May apologises to patients for thousands of cancelled operations - Prime Minister admits: 'I know it's difficult, I know it's frustrating''; in The Independent; 4 January 2018.
Alex Therrien & Nick Triggle's 'Health secretary Jeremy Hunt sorry as A&Es struggle to cope'; on the BBC; 3 December 2017.
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