Reform UK is not a patriotic party, Nigel Farage is hardly delivering value for money as an MP - Yorkshire Post Letters

In his letter of May 5, Peter Auty rolls out the tired and ridiculously inaccurate notion that criticism of Brexit is anti-democratic. He labours under the impression that anyone who believes Brexit has done great harm is being disrespectful of “our great independent country”.

No, Mr Auty, it’s not lack of respect but honesty; the facts, available to anyone who cares to know the truth, are clear. As for this country being great, I disagree. Qualities such as tolerance, compassion, empathy and knowledge are disappearing, and in their place we see selfishness, ignorance, racism, misogyny and a tendency - even from the older generations - to sink to juvenile name-calling.

Sadly, this is particularly apparent when one reads the TYP letters page or the increasingly unpleasant, unsubstantiated and judgmental opinions of columnist Sarah Todd.

And then we come to Mr Auty’s letter (TYP, May 10) in which he rails against our democratically-elected Government and hopes for an early general election… Perhaps he’s changed his mind about it being undemocratic to criticise voting outcomes?

As for his belief that Reform is the only truly patriotic party, I am baffled as to how he comes to that conclusion. Perhaps he hasn’t dug deep enough into the backgrounds of Reform’s MPs and new councillors. Perhaps he has somehow missed the regular transatlantic commutes undertaken by Farage as he sucks up to Trump, a man of proven dubious morals.

Or the fact that Farage is paid £93k of taxpayers’ money as an MP, yet his attendance in both the House of Commons and his Clacton constituency does not reflect value for money.

Given the amount he earns from his 10? 12? - hard to keep track - ‘second’ jobs, it’s hard to believe this is a man who takes being a public servant seriously, let alone a true patriot.

Then there’s his history, from marching through a village as a teenager singing Hitler Youth songs, to his role in founding UKIP, his xenophobia, his appalling behaviour whilst an MEP, his attack on the RNLI, and his role in stirring up trouble after the Southport tragedy - not to mention the hypocrisy of someone trying to portray themselves as a man of the people when he’s anything but.

Of course, TYP letters page is often spattered with letters in similar vein to Mr Auty’s - the messages being, you shouldn’t criticise the Brexit vote but it’s fine to want a change of Government. Really, you can’t have it both ways.

To me, living in a democracy means we are free to express our opinions, as long as they do not fall into the category of hate speech or inciting violence. So, just as Mr Auty et al are quite within their rights to criticise our Government, those of us who want closer ties with Europe are free to say so.