YP Letters: Heseltine is wrong to be so negative about leaving the EU

Michael Heseltine's Brexit stance has angered many.

I AM surprised and disappointed by Lord Heseltine’s speech (The Yorkshire Post, March 9).

I have always regarded him as an enterprising and forward thinking former industrialist and politician. Yet his article is full of negatives. Where is the get up and go mentality with which he is normally associated?

He is probably right in championing the role of Parliament in determining our future. However I recall an excellent letter by Graham Wood (The Yorkshire Post, February 14) which suggested that in 1972 the then government led by Edward Heath used the Crown prerogative powers to formally sign the Treaty of Accession which took this country into what became the European Union.

It is considered a breach of the spirit of our constitution not to have referred the matter to the electorate in the form of an election or referendum beforehand. Some legal experts even maintain that the real sovereignty lies with the electorate and that Parliament is the mere custodian of that sovereignty.

Be that as it may. The European Union is now regarded by many as a failed experiment based upon a failed ideology. Parliament’s sovereignty has already been severely eroded by this undemocratic, unaccountable and sclerotic body. And it would be reduced even more as we move towards the European Superstate. Where will the sovereignty of Parliament be then, Michael?

From: Arthur Quarmby, Mill Moor Road, Meltham.

I DON’T think we should pay much attention to the likes of Lord Heseltine.

He and his like took us into what they assured us was “just a simple trading arrangement”, and we were denied that scrutiny of the details for which he is now calling on Brexit, because that would have revealed the true nature of the European concept.

They casually threw away the freedom and liberty which we had fought two World Wars to protect, and at the same time abandoned those good friends of the Commonwealth who had unstintingly come to our aid on those earlier occasions.

From: Ian Oglesby, Stamford Bridge, York.

THE EU would saddle the UK with a debt of many families when we leave. We must be shown in details how that figure is arrived at. First, we demand to peruse the EU’s audited accounts for the last 20 years, in order to give this demand any credence whatsoever.