YP Letters: Labour is playing with fire on Brexit

I THINK the leader of Labour and its MPs are playing with fire (The Yorkshire Post, January 18).

We had a majority who voted to leave. Why do they still insist on a no leave?

Jeremy Corbyn will not do a face-to-face talk with the Government or Theresa May.

He has no other plan on the table. Unless I’ve missed that one.

No deal would be a better deal, as the EU are not going to budge either. They are as bad as the Labour Party.

Just do the right thing and let’s get out off this sticky mess and start afresh. It’s time we stood on our own feet for once.

There is a future and we’ll be great once more.

From: Janet Trott, Park View, Brodsworth, Doncaster.

I AGREE with the common sense view of your correspondent David Downs (The Yorkshire Post, January 17) on the 1975 vote on Europe.

We had already been taken into the ‘Common Market’ by politicians without any reference to voters.

The 1975 vote was presented to us as confirming a trading agreement with the Common Market – the attitude being “we’re already in it, so we might as well stay!” At that time I was both politically and financially naive and bought into the idea, as sold to us by politicians, and voted for the Treaty.

However, on reflection, I realised I had been mistaken and decided that as soon as there was a chance to reverse my vote, I would vote ‘out’, but didn’t expect it to take 40 years before others thought the same as I did.

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley.

HUMILIATION for Theresa May (The Yorkshire Post, January 16) following the all time record heaviest defeat by 230 votes for a Government flagship policy.

My reaction is to say ‘Get out of the way Mrs May’. The Conservative Party desperately needs a new leader not afraid of no deal, and with faith in the British people to prosper.

The Commonwealth has five times the population of the EU. We have ignored this huge market ever since we mistakenly joined the Common Market. What an economic waste.

From: Roy Turner, Hollybank Avenue, Upper Cumberworth, Huddersfield.

ONCE again our MPs fail the country. The democratic vote of the populace was to leave the EU. Forget the numbers, a win is a win. All else is irrelevant.

An MP is there to support the country and its population, therefore any MP not backing the implementation of the referendum outcome is failing in their obligations!

From: Phyllis Capstick, Hellifield.

AS one who voted to leave the European Union completely, I do not agree to any deal. If MPs cannot deliver on the result of the referendum, they should not have given us the vote in the first place. A no-deal Brexit is what I voted for. That is what to leave means to me.

MP’s timely memorial

From: Michael Meadowcroft, Former Liberal MP for Leeds West.

I APPLAUD the unveiling of the blue plaque to commemorate Alice Bacon and I’m delighted to have been an “outrider” of the revival of interest in her career with my lecture at the Leeds Library in September 2013.

I was amused to read of the dilemma of where to place the plaque. Alice Bacon never lived in Leeds at any time during her 25 years as a Leeds MP. This was not unusual for Leeds MPs, in fact since the war a majority of Leeds MPs, from both Labour and Conservative parties, have come from outside the city.

Whereas Alice Bacon’s home in Normanton was not too far away, many MPs were London-based and either stayed at the Queens Hotel or with party officials when they had to be in Leeds.

There are a number of advantages in being locally-based, particularly if one has children at local schools, not least in that by sharing the life of the constituency provides an inherent moral basis when taking unpopular decisions.

It also means that constituents can easily approach their MP when participating in myriad local activities.

No justification for lower wage

From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

I AGREE with Dominic Jones of the Youth Parliament that people should be paid the same whatever age they are (The Yorkshire Post, January 17). There is no justification for a lower rate of the mimimum/living wage, and the level for young people should be raised accordingly.

Incidentally, reduced pay for young people when I first applied to join the Civil Service back in 1978 meant that a person could get more money despite having a lower grade job!

No quick fix for potholes

From: Robert Holman, Marsden Court, Farsley.

IT’S a funny old world! We have enough scientific knowledge to send a rocket to orbit the other side of the Moon to test its surface, whilst down on poor old planet Earth we need a workable solution to solve the potholes on the Outer Leeds Ring Road.

Give ailing Sir Andy a break

From: Mrs AM Graham, High Street, Goldthorpe, Rotherham.

WHILE I agree with Susan Dennis (The Yorkshire Post, January 15) that Sir Andy Murray has a lot in his life for which to be thankful, he is an accomplished tennis player with a very painful condition which will stop him playing the sport he loves, and he is only 30 years old.