Brexit is not the will of the people, freedom of movement is much needed - Yorkshire Post Letters

Your pro-Brexit correspondents often flatter themselves as somehow representing a ‘will of the people’ majority - based on the eight year old EU referendum outcome. But what does the public really want now?

Well, apparently even amongst 2016 Leave voters, 54 per cent would welcome a reintroduction of freedom of movement as part of any agreement to secure the European Single Market and Customs Union access which is clearly so vital to restoring growth to the British economy.

It rises to 68 per cent when you look at the public overall (Most leave voters now back free movement in pursuit of EU-UK reset, The Guardian, December 12).

One of the most dishonest, damaging aspects of the Vote Leave campaign was the fallacy that free movement and Single Market access could be divorced - that we could simply cherry-pick or “have our cake and eat it”. It was not true then and isn’t now.

Other European countries continue to recognise the benefits of greater cooperation across our borders - compromising where necessary to achieve those benefits (EU agrees to Bulgaria and Romania joining Schengen area, TYP, December 13).

The invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump’s election are new spurs producing a rethink, says think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). The poll it commissioned had respondents from six European countries - France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK.

“There is remarkable consensus on both sides of the Channel that the time is ripe for a reassessment of UK-EU relations,” says ECFR.

Regardless of whether people were originally Leave or Remain voters, the majority opinion overall is clearly ahead of and more ambitious than politicians regarding our future relationship with European allies.