From: Peter Packham, Chair, Leeds for Europe, Roundhay, Leeds.

Peter Auty rightly warns of those who "undermine democracy for personal or private gain" (The Yorkshire Post, June 12). I agree. Nigel Farage recently accepted a £5m gift from an offshore crypto-billionaire, which he explicitly described as a "reward" for his Brexit campaign.

To defend this legacy, Mr Auty claims UK-EU trade has remained stable. This is an economic illusion. He relies on figures unadjusted for inflation. When prices skyrocket, the cash value of trade naturally increases, masking a severe drop in the actual volume of goods our struggling businesses are exporting.

Common sense alone should be enough to tell you raising trade barriers with your largest market and burdening exporters with huge amounts of extra red tape is going to adversely affect business. What Mr Auty is claiming defies common sense.

A Union flag and EU flag outside the Houses of Parliament. PIC: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

placeholder image — A Union flag and EU flag outside the Houses of Parliament. PIC: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

He points to new global trade deals to compensate for this damage. Yet the Government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility confirms agreements with countries like Australia will add a negligible 0.1 per cent to GDP over 15 years. You cannot replace an estimated four to eight per cent long-term hit to the UK economy with virtually worthless deals on the other side of the planet.

Furthermore, his attempt to dismiss younger voters - children and grandchildren, for many of us - reveals the fragility of his argument.

The narrow mandate of 2016 was built on a stark generational divide. Young people were stripped of their right to live, work, and study across a continent - which is exactly why permanent constitutional upheaval should always require a supermajority, not a fleeting snapshot of an electorate that has since changed.

Mr Auty is correct to highlight the dangers of personal and private gain. Since the weakening of Britain and the fracturing of Europe has long been the explicit geopolitical objective of Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and the Chinese state, perhaps he could tell us what his personal incentive is for continuing to support their agenda?