This is why Boris Johnson has no mandate to press through no-deal Brexit – Yorkshire Post letters

From: Victoria Randall, Leeds.
Public opinion continues to be split over Brexit.Public opinion continues to be split over Brexit.
Public opinion continues to be split over Brexit.

IT came as no surprise to me when Boris Johnson won the Tory leadership election.

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What I cannot understand, however, is how, with little over 92,000 votes cast by only Conservative party members, he believes he has a mandate to take the UK out of the EU; potentially without a deal.

Will Boris Johnson make a good Prime Minister - or not?Will Boris Johnson make a good Prime Minister - or not?
Will Boris Johnson make a good Prime Minister - or not?

Whatever else one may think of Theresa May, she at least had the decency to go to the country at the earliest opportunity after Article 50 (notifying the UK’s intention to leave the European Union) had been invoked, to get a mandate to negotiate a deal.

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My personal perception of Boris Johnson is that he’s a self-serving man whose lifelong ambition has been to become Prime Minister. I do not believe that he holds the country’s interests at heart and we shall all suffer badly under his premiership.

But surely even he is not so arrogant as to try and steamroller a no-deal Brexit through Parliament with the apparent approval of only about 0.2 per cent of the electorate?

I have been told that there will be a problem in me accessing my daily medications because of a no-deal Brexit. What mandate does the PM have to compromise the health and wellbeing of people like me when we were all unequivocally promised sunlit uplands in 2016? I believe we should have the right to change our mind through a final-say referendum, especially with America rubbing its hands in glee at finally getting market access to our precious public services after Brexit. Absolutely no one voted for this chaos.

From: Thomas W Jefferson, Batty Lane, Howden, Goole.

JOHN Cole (The Yorkshire Post, August 10) argues that we must avoid a no-deal Brexit because it will disadvantage our scientific community and cause disruption to the food supply chain. But what are the alternatives?

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The EU have said they will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement which is unacceptable because it does not respect our democracy. In private they have gloated that the only way out of the backstop is to enter a Customs Union which will give them control over our trade, thereby ensuring our permanent subjugation.

Opting to retain our membership is unthinkable. Leaving with no deal is far from perfect but is infinitely preferable to either of the options above. None of the problems it throws up, including Mr Cole’s examples, are insurmountable and will not prevent us from recovering and prospering.