This week, Chesham and Amersham MP, Cheryl Gillan, writes exclusively to Bucks Free Press readers:

Momentous is the only word for the events which have gripped both Westminster and the whole world this week. What was happening will change the future course of this great country, yet momentous too because things changed from moment to moment – the only prediction is that they will keep doing so.

There have been times in the past week when I looked around and realised these moments are going to be examined and debated by historians, as we in Parliament have examined and debated the Parliamentary business of Brexit. When I think about the great ‘set pieces’ in Parliament’s history, it is issues like the 1832 Reform Bill, the Corn Laws, 17th century challenges to the king’s authority. My 26 years on these benches is bracketed so far by the Maastricht Treaty and Brexit, with issues like the Lisbon Treaty and the debate on the Iraq War.

Close to, the longer perspectives of history may not be apparent. The divisions are deeply entrenched but we must remember the democratic principle, that this has been the outcome of people exercising their right to vote in a referendum.

Often those people had not voted before and we risk them never wanting to participate again. That is a risk to democracy. It could affect not just parliamentary democracy but all the ways in which people engage with all levels of government, national and local. In its earliest origins Westminster was an island and Parliament cannot retreat into a closed community.

The soundings I’ve taken from businesses, the heart’s-blood of our community, shows they want to see an orderly Brexit to allow them to plan, for their employees and customers.

And what I’ve had reinforced during this week in Parliament is that stability and security are of paramount importance to our country and democracy.