AS BREXIT talks get properly under way, it is clear that Theresa May’s failed snap election gamble is beginning to have a serious impact on the UK’s ability to get a fair and sensible deal.

This week we learn that on the first day of detailed negotiations, the Brexit secretary David Davis spent less than one hour with the EU team and its chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

He then returned to Westminster under a three-line Government whip to vote down a Labour motion to increase the amount of parliamentary time given to backbench business.

It’s clear that the Government’s precarious position, with no majority and propped up by the DUP after a grubby billion-pound deal, means that when a vote is called it will take precedence over all other business – even when that business is negotiating our exit from the EU.

A picture also emerged this week that seems to confirm our worst fears. It shows the EU negotiators at the table with papers piled ready for discussions – while on the other side sit David Davis and his team, no paperwork in sight, looking completely unprepared.

Of course they’ve dismissed this as a matter of timing when the picture was taken. But appearances matter, and the story that this appears to tell is one of a complete lack of readiness for the most serious negotiations this country has faced in our lifetime.

It is absolutely clear that since the election, the government has been in disarray. There is no agreed cabinet position on vital Brexit issues, the negotiating team is not prepared and the PM has lost her authority. Meanwhile the clock is ticking and the risks are increasing day by day.

We need to see movement forward, and to facilitate this we need to see a fresh approach with sensible engagement.

We urgently need progress on incredibly important issues – like the rights and future status of British citizens living in Europe and EU citizens living in the UK; on future funding for Wales; and on access to trade for our businesses, for whom leaving the single market and the customs union will be a massive blow.

David Davis claims to be ready to get down to business. I really hope for the sake of everyone in Penarth and Cardiff, and across the UK and EU, that he means it; or better still, let those who have Britain's best interests at heart – rather than their party's - take over.