YP Letters: Brexit crisis is rooted in the party system

READERS make a fatal mistake by concentrating solely on the economic effects of Brexit.

England’s greatest export to the world is our concept of liberty under the law as provided by Magna Carta 1215, specifically trial by jury, which is how the people rule by deciding which law is just or unjust and, by annulling a bad law, cause it to be extracted from the statute book.

This is phenomenal people power of a very stable kind and is true or “legal democracy”.

In contrast we are tricked into voting for a party system of “suffrage” which our politicians misname “democracy”, which requires us to consent to one or other of their pre-arranged manifesto “packages” which they allow us to have, but from which there is no opt out.

We blindly transfer this phenomenal power to the politicians to legislate as they like (their version of law and order) and then complain that they are not listening to us.

It must be increasingly obvious that swapping parties makes no difference, but the penny still hasn’t dropped that we are dealing with a system.

From: Barrie Crowther, Walton, Wakefield.

THERE is dissatisfaction in all the European countries with the way the EU is being run (The Yorkshire Post, December 17).

Britain is not the only country with food banks, poverty and immigrant unrest.

Our financial contribution to this set-up will be sorely missed especially by bankrupt countries like Spain and Greece. Who will bridge this shortfall? Certainly not the other members.

In any such negotiations the likes of Michel Barnier, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk should be visiting Downing Street on bended knee asking what is acceptable to us, not the other way round.

Does Theresa May not realise we have the upper hand? This is the first principle of any bargaining.

From: David T Craggs, Shafton Gate, Goldthorpe.

WE have already had many different types of polls, questionnaires and surveys asking the public about the Brexit fiasco because that’s what it’s been so far – a fiasco.

What I would now like to see are two surveys, one asking those who originally voted ‘Remain’ how they’d vote in a second referendum.

I suspect that very few would now vote ‘leave’, having witnessed the fiasco so far.

And one asking the ‘Leavers’ how they’d vote in a second referendum.

I suspect that this poll would surprise some, but by no means all of us. I think most people now accept that some voters voted ‘leave’ without really understanding what they were voting for.

And why should the Irish border be creating such a problem?

Having now seen the complexity of it all, and the fact that we are not going to get all that we want and that several compromises will have to be made, I wonder if Remain would be a more appealing option if there was another referendum.

From: Barry Foster, High Stakesby, Whitby.

THE main problem with the likes of Tony Blair. Sir John Major and many others is that they do not want us to leave the EU. Nor does the EU itself.

It is a great pity that they – and all the others – cannot seem to accept that we had a vote and it was to leave the EU.

MPs who have thwarted Theresa May, and behaved in a shocking way, should all get together and get on with the task in hand.

My only difference with the PM is that she should have walked out when the whole fiasco started. The EU would then be getting out their begging bowls.

The sooner we get rid of this group of unelected spendthrifts and those of our MPs who do not support the public’s decision, the better.

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley.

I WAS not aware, until Jacob Rees-Mogg made a public statement shortly after the result of the confidence vote was announced, that a significant majority of Conservative backbenchers had voted against Theresa May.

I had not realised the huge number of Tory MPs, totalling 140, that were in various government jobs for which they get additional allowances over and above their generous salaries of £77,379. Many are reaching in excess of £100,000.

We can safely assume most voted to support the PM, as their jobs were at stake had she been defeated.

Theresa May received 200 votes, including about 140 on the payroll plus 60 off the payroll. If we examine the vote not clouded by the payroll, Theresa May lost by 117 to 60, equating to a much weaker position. I cannot see her lasting long.

From: Cecil Crinnion, Sycamore Close, Slingsby, York.

IN view of the disagreement among MPs on the confusion on the British people’s vote to leave the EU, I offer the following solution – why not have a referendum on should we have a second referendum?

From: Terry Thomas, Grosvenor Park Gardens, Leeds.

CORRESPONDENTS talk the possible ‘misfortune’ of Jeremy Corbyn being elected. Surely if he was elected, it would be because the majority would have voted for him – do they not believe in democracy?

The Tories are using Mr Corbyn for their latest ‘project fear’.

From: Paul Morley, Long Preston, Skipton.

ISN’T it about time the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government stopped trying to squeeze blood out of the EU stone and threw everything into sorting out World Trade Organisation deals, waved goodbye to the EU and tore up the £39bn cheque?