Let’s listen to sensible voices over Brexit - Yorkshire Post Letters

MAY I praise the excellent article by Jack Houldsworth (The Yorkshire Post, March 16) on why he, as a young Leave voter, feels let down by Brexit leaders. He speaks much sense. Unlike Tony Rossiter in the same edition.

Mr Rossiter complains that the referendum on EU membership was undemocratic and that only 37 per cent of the electorate voted leave. No doubt he believes Scottish devolution should be overturned as 45 per cent voted for it in 1997. In Wales, in the same year, only 25 per cent of the electorate voted for devolution. But they still got it! Those referenda had no threshold. Perhaps Mr Rossiter is confused with the 1979 referenda which did have thresholds of 40 per cent.

He also complains that the vote to leave the EU was a protest against the status quo. If so, Mr Rossiter had a hand in creating the status quo and he should be searching his conscience as to how he got it so wrong.

He asks us to listen to Sir John Major who, of course, privatised the railways, cost the UK billions when it crashed out of the ERM and was less than honest over the Maastricht Treaty claiming it devolved EU power to member states when it did the opposite – and he knew it. He has nothing to teach us.

From: Richard Wimpenny, Kennedy Avenue, Fixby, Huddersfield.

I WEEP for this once great country! We were promised a once-in-a lifetime referendum on Europe, the results of which would be honoured by our so-called representatives.

On the face of it, the Brexit victory appears to be a narrow one, But wait a minute, if the result had been based on constituencies as per a general election, 406 constituencies voted to leave and only 242 to remain.

Whatever the result, and however close it was, the will of the people had been clearly and democratically established and should have been acted on.

And what of the future? A new referendum would be a mockery. If Remain was to win, Leavers would cry foul and demand a third ‘‘play-off’’. If Leave wins again we shall be back to square one. No solution either way. The answer – get out quick without a deal and put up with any short-term consequence while we learn the art of being an independent, self -governing nation again.

It is not Brexit which is wrecking the economy – it is the interminable squabbling, total lack of leadership and refusal to accept the democratic will of the people that is inexorably leading to disaster. The untrustworthy, self-serving pygmies running the show must be made to pay, so that this will never happen again.

A plague to the lot of them. I hope that one day I shall feel proud to be British again.

From: Ian Smith, Colston Close, Bradford.

I FEEL just a wee bit sorry for Theresa May because she’s fighting all parties plus a predominantly Remain-leaning Parliament (The Yorkshire Post, March 13). But she didn’t apply herself purposefully to the referendum outcome; she preferred seeking to maintain a very close relationship with the EU’s member states. Nothing wrong with that, of course, other than through weakness, she’s been subdued during the process by their strong pro-EU position – a position that, as a Remainer, she has sympathy with.

And as for the cost of delaying – or even denying – Brexit, then some costs will unfortunately have to wait until we’re invited to register our opinions at the next ballot box when, surely, politicians will eventually and regrettably realise their stupidity. Meanwhile, other costs will undoubtedly be incurred through national disunity.

From: David Schofield, Highfield Drive, Garforth.

WHILE Westminster immerses itself in political back- stabbing and all-round chaos, it seems to me that there is one bunch of politicians whose silence has been absolutely deafening throughout the Brexit process.

I refer of course to our MEPs.

Surely, Brexit is something that they should have a strong opinion about, but what have we heard from them?

Nothing, with the exception of Nigel Farage. What exactly do they do to earn their money and can they be re-elected if Article 50 is extended?

From: Gordon Lawrence, Sheffield.

IT is with the infrequency of the sighting of Halley’s Comet that I find myself in any sort of disagreement with the outstanding Bill Carmichael. However, his appraisal of Harold Wilson (The Yorkshire Post, March 8), though based largely on his experiences as a youthful party member, is, in my opinion, far too generous.

Wilson promised a lot in 1964 with his dream of a “white-hot technological revolution” but his government fell well short of all the hysterical expectation and hype that was, at the time, generated.

From: Canon Michael Storey, Healey Wood Road, Brighouse.

IT was interesting to read (The Yorkshire Post, March 11) three responses to a recent letter of mine regarding the issue of the voting in the 2016 referendum.

One, Glyn Gibson, stated that, in my region, 57 per cent voted in favour of Brexit. So what! The issue is not a local one – it is a national/international one.

From: JA King, Thurgoland, Sheffield.

WHEN the EU provides money for any project, the EU insists on the recipient advertising so its contribution can be promoted.

Why don’t they, at the same time, tell all, in the same advertising, where they got that money from in the first place?

From: Henry Cobden, Ilkley.

LOOK on the bright side – it is Theresa May, not Chris Grayling, who is still in charge.

From: Thomas Reed, Harrogate.

HOW dare Jeremy Corbyn lecture Theresa May on having no plan for Brexit. What is his? She’s getting on with the job. He just wants to make life difficult for her.