Brexit outcome makes case for electoral reform – Yorkshire Post Letters

BILL Carmichael’s argument is that Remainers and the EU are to blame for the downside of a hard Brexit (The Yorkshire Post, December 11). So in anticipation of chaos at the ports, loss of jobs and social unrest that would follow “No Deal”, he is getting in early with apportioning blame.

After the misrepresentations and lies of the past four years, Carmichael invites us to take sides. He clearly supports the architects of this particular approach to a hard Brexit.

On the other hand, Ian Richardson is right in saying “nobody wins with the politics of dishonesty and deceit” (December 10). It is important to recognise the “lack of wisdom” interwoven with “frequent dishonesty” in today’s politics.

To break away from our increasingly depressing political polarisation, we need to reform our electoral system. The two-party system is outmoded. Ensuring our elections are fair would provide a starting point in building a more consensual form of government, both nationally and locally.

Politicians in countries with fair elections are more responsive and more willing to collaborate to get things done. They also look and sound more like a cross section of people that elected them. We’d probably get fewer Old Etonians in power as a result.

From: John Turley, Dronfield Woodhouse.

IT was 100 per cent predictable that in the event of a ‘‘No Deal’’ Brexit, there would be squeals and cries of ‘‘Not our fault gov’’ from Brexiteers like Bill Carmichael (The Yorkshire Post, December 11), blaming everyone and everything but themselves, when in fact the true blame lies almost entirely with two factions within the Conservative Party.

Firstly, there was the ERG group led by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Steven Baker, who never wanted a deal in the first place, and Boris Johnson feared making too many concessions to the EU in case he suffered the same fate at their hands as Theresa May.

Secondly, there were those like former Brexit Secretary David Davis who insisted all along that the UK had only to threaten the EU with ‘‘No Deal’’, and they would then roll over and offer the UK a favourable trade deal.

This was, however, based on the popular misconception, shared by several correspondents to this newspaper, that the EU needed us more than we needed them. This is clearly not the case, and EU has called our bluff regarding this matter.

From: Peter Rickaby, West Park, Selby.

MANY Eurocrats claim the EU to be a happy family of like-minded nations. Where is the evidence to support this claim?

Germany and France are self-appointed parents, only allowing their offsprings to do what they consider suitable. Britain, having been an adopted child of 40 years, has decided it’s time to leave home, cut the apron strings and make a life for itself.

Unfortunately, “Mum and Dad” don’t like this; they realise their main bread winner being allowed such freedom will have a severe and detrimental impact on their future pension pot.

From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley

LISTENING to Doncaster MP and former Labour leader Ed Miliband speaking to Andrew Marr at the weekend, I thought he was about to burst a blood vessel when telling us all how terrible it would be without a Brexit deal.

I’d like you to know Ed that you had your chance multiple times during the last four years to satisfy your core voters, but like the rest of your Labour colleagues you failed the initiative test big time. To put it simply, you and your Labour gang do not represent those of us who were your core voters in the past..

The referendum asked Remain or Leave – there was no mention of any deal. You think 2019 was a bad result for you here in the North? Just wait until 2024.

From: Ron Firth, Campsall.

IN the referendum, which was on a simple choice between Leave or Remain, 71 per cent of Ed Miliband’s constituents in Doncaster North instructed him to support the Government’s Brexit.

Until now, the only comment remembered from him was that he would not have called a referendum if he had defeated David Cameron in the 2015 election.

That Boris Johnson and his team have been struggling to get a satisfactory deal on Brexit is down to MPs like Ed Miliband and others failing to demonstrate the determination of their constituents to leave the EU with a fair deal.

In a recent article in The Yorkshire Post, Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett apologised for Labour’s dereliction of duty.

From: Richard Wilson, Chair, Leeds for Europe, Riverside Way, Leeds.

PAUL Morley and Geoff North try to present a rosy picture for firms after our transitional arrangements with the European Union end (The Yorkshire Post, December 15).

I suspect that neither reader is active in business today. Surveys among those who are show that Brexit is a burden – and one especially unwelcome amid Covid-19.

Company managers fear Brexit’s myriad flaws and lack the luxury – afforded to Mr Morley and Mr North – of engaging in what I will politely call wishful thinking.

Staying polite, Bill Carmichael’s column (December 11) was nonsense. Not remotely “excellent forensic analysis”, as Mr North describes it. Blaming the EU and “die-hard Remainers” for a possible No-Deal Brexit is ridiculous.

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