WHILE tub-thumping appears to be among the “skill-sets” of some arch-Brexiters, those in the business world formulating cool-headed views of the new UK reality in the Leave vote’s aftermath are getting on more quietly with what has to be done.

However, the fact these people are making their serious points without a song and dance does not reduce the need for the UK Government to listen very carefully to what they are saying if it wishes to mitigate the inevitable economic damage from leaving the European Union.

This is not the theatre of politics. It is the reality of the global corporate world. And the Westminster Government needs to realise the urgency of the UK’s situation.

The car-makers with big production operations in the UK have, for good reason, been a focus of attention ever since the Brexit vote. Many eyes are watching to see what they will do next.

These big global players have much choice in terms of where they can manufacture, and for decades a key consideration for automotive companies setting up or expanding operations in the UK has been that the country is part of the giant European single market.

With Prime Minister Theresa May having emphasised the UK will be leaving the single market and customs union as a result of the Brexit vote, car manufacturers will be in absolutely no doubt by now that Brexit is a very big issue for them. They have probably been in little doubt about this in any case since the result of the June 23, 2016 vote.

Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroen owner Groupe PSA, offered his thoughts on the UK’s post-Brexit vote landscape at the Geneva Motor Show this week. He told the BBC that uncertainty undermined the chances of the Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire getting more work after 2021.

Mr Tavares said: “We cannot invest in a world of uncertainty...No one is going to make huge investments without knowing what will be the final competitiveness of the Brexit outcome.”

He declared the decision on whether or not to give Ellesmere Port more work would need to be taken “very soon”.

And this gets us to one of the key points about the protracted Brexit negotiations. Nearly 21 months on from the vote to leave the EU, the clarity over the terms of the UK’s departure sought by Mr Tavares and his peers to inform their big decisions remains elusive.

This surely does not bode well. The clock is ticking loudly.

You sometimes hear Brexiters criticise reporting of the detrimental economic effects of leaving the EU because they claim that no one can know yet what is going to happen, or something along those lines.

However, there are two key points to be made here. The first is that the Brexit vote is already damaging the UK economy through a surge in inflation and a fall in real wages, as well as the exacerbation of skills and labour shortages, and through other transmission mechanisms.

The second point is that no one knowing how things are going to pan out is not a good thing, on so many levels. One of these levels is that, if overseas investors cannot get clarity on what on earth the UK’s future relationship with the EU is going to be in the wake of Brexit, they are likely to prefer other locations.

And PSA Europe boss Maxime Picat summed up the uncertainty of the situation well when speaking to Reuters at the motor show.

He said: “We can’t make the world any easier for our workers and unions and staff than it is for us on the outside. When there’s uncertainty, we cannot bring them certainty. We’re going to have to wait for the political calendar.”

While overseas investors such as PSA mull what to do about their UK operations amid the post-Leave vote chaos, there is no sign the corrosive uncertainty of Brexit is going to diminish any time soon.

The arch-Brexiters in the Cabinet appear to continue to be more focused on ramped-up patriotic rhetoric than on realities including those around the economy. This rhetoric is seemingly aimed at those who support their cause anyway rather than those worried about what leaving the EU will bring.

Last week, we had International Trade Secretary Liam Fox declare that remaining in a customs union with the EU would be a “betrayal” of Brexit voters.

The contrast with those representing the companies and countries with a major interest in what happens to the UK as a place to do business – who are making their non-political points in a much lower-profile but far clearer way – could hardly be more stark.

The importance of ensuring Brexit does not bring barriers to trade with the EU was only last month highlighted diplomatically, but in no uncertain terms, by Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s ambassador to the UK.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, after meeting Mrs May with a delegation of Japanese business leaders, he said: “If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the UK – not Japanese only – then no private company can continue operations. So it is as simple as that.”

For all the bluff and bluster of the politicians, it is as simple as that.

The ambassador added: “This is all high stakes that all of us, I think, need to keep in mind.”

Mr Tavares’ comments provide one example of the high stakes involved.

The size of the stakes begs the question of why in the world Mr Fox and his fellow Brexiters would do anything to disrupt frictionless trade between the UK and its key European markets.

Mr Tavares has no political axe to grind. And Japan’s ambassador to the UK is merely stating the reality of life in the corporate world.

The UK Government needs to show, before any more time passes, that it is listening to such people.

However, given events since the Brexit vote, the Cabinet split over what form the UK’s EU exit should take and the declaration the country will leave the single market, it is sadly very difficult to see this happening.