There will be civil disobedience if MPs don’t vote for Brexit – Yorkshire Post letters

From: Tony Armitage, Fulwith Road, Harrogate.
An Extinction Rebellion protester walks past a line of police officers in Parliament Square, Westminster, London. More than 1,000 people have been arrested during the climate change protests in London as police cleared the roadblocks responsible for disruption in the capital.An Extinction Rebellion protester walks past a line of police officers in Parliament Square, Westminster, London. More than 1,000 people have been arrested during the climate change protests in London as police cleared the roadblocks responsible for disruption in the capital.
An Extinction Rebellion protester walks past a line of police officers in Parliament Square, Westminster, London. More than 1,000 people have been arrested during the climate change protests in London as police cleared the roadblocks responsible for disruption in the capital.

I RECEIVED my Happy Easter e-mail from the Conservative Party chairman (Brandon Lewis) who asked me to vote Conservative on May 2 because “Conservative councils recycle more Easter egg boxes than Labour”.

Normally that would have been sufficient to secure my vote but I had just been reading about the Extinction Rebellion protests in London and their wider impact on the police.

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Freedom of speech has been allowed to remain under attack for too long, but the recent restrictions on freedom of movement in London are a move too far, with much wider geographical and financial implications.

Activist and protesters are entitled to express their opinions like anyone else, but they should not be allowed to restrict the freedom of others, especially those who wish to go about
their daily business (Bernard Ingham, The Yorkshire Post, 
April 24).

Without their productivity and the many resultant taxes collected by the Treasury all of society will suffer, starting with those most worthy of social support.

The responsibility for preventing public disobedience rests with all politicians, some of whom increasingly act in their personal interest rather than that of their party or the public good.

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Their conduct in Parliament continues to set a poor example to those too young to vote, and discourages discipline and respect by those who are entitled to vote.

Controlling protests before they become unreasonable should not be left to the police alone, taking them away from other essential duties, and leaving them to deal face to face with the anger of the demonstrators and the inconvenienced.

Public protests are largely
a release of frustration because politicians have failed to act and re-act honestly and promptly to the reasonable expectations of the electorate.

How often do we read of gracious political assurances which never see the light of day –and unfulfilled promises which were simply a ploy to catch a few floating voters?

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MPs must put their dysfunctional House in order, govern honestly and responsibly, and not empower civil disobedience as a Trojan Horse for personal political advancement.

For all MPs to co-operate – and quickly – to fulfil the vote for 
Brexit would be a good starting point.