YP Letters: Realities of Brexit have become clear '“ give us a second vote

IN 2016, we voted for Brexit which – in retrospect – was a bad decision. We were informed that such a vote would either result in utopia or a plague of locusts.

The Archbishop of York: I voted Remain, but now I’ll be backing the Brexit deal and here’s why

In the absence of facts and pertinent information, we were denied the opportunity of making a rational decision and, as a consequence, made a decision based solely on our opinion of the EU as an institution.

It is only during the past year or so that we have come to understand the extent of the EU’s involvement in our economy and every aspect of our daily lives.

It has become quite apparent that leaving the EU is so complicated and intricate that it cannot be implemented without causing enormous damage to our economy.

My wife and I have taken time to educate ourselves on the Withdrawal Agreement and are appalled at what we have learnt.

Quite simply, the Government is seeking to take advantage of the legal complexities of the agreement to misrepresent the facts and to present a picture favourable to a Brexit deal that would be disastrous for the UK, such deceit and duplicity is shocking.

Unfortunately, many people will simply take the Government’s utterances at face value.

My wife and I have been lifelong supporters of the Conservative Party but are ashamed of our party for the first time in our lives and, as a consequence, of our country.

David Cameron and Theresa May must jointly share the blame for the terrible predicament that the UK faces. Many of our politicians appear to have no desire to examine the Brexit deal, or lack the moral strength to go against Theresa May.

We do not believe that we should be making a choice between jumping off a cliff or a slow economic death.

The situation is such that another referendum should take place, given, hopefully, that the electorate has now developed a greater understanding of the issues involved.

From: Barry Paterson, Burton Salmon.

THE column by Rachel Reeves MP was a masterclass in “project hysteria” (The Yorkshire Post, December 1). She spoke in terms of “could”, “might” and “worst case scenario”, all based around shocking forecasts issued by the Bank of England and the Treasury.

Both pieces of work could, at best, be described as star-gazing, given their abysmal forecasting track record throughout the Brexit debate.

It is plain to see that the only conclusion that can be drawn so far about the Government’s Brexit performance is that it is more interested in maintaining the vested interests of big business in the EU at the expense of the British people.

From: Coun Tony Galbraith (Con), Chantreys Drive, Elloughton Brough.

I FIND Rachel Reeves’ advocacy of remaining in the EU less than convincing. Project Fear failed in 2016 and will do so again.

Ms Reeves, as a former employee of the Bank of England, should know that any economist producing a 15-year forecast is a charlatan.

Economists can barely produce accurate forecasts 15 months ahead, let alone 15 years.

I recall Gordon Brown, when Chancellor, producing a three-year projection just before the crash – which forecast a Government surplus in the third year. The actual result was a deficit of about £160bn.

The recent forecasts are a result of computer modelling. With them, it is all a question of which assumptions you choose to make and which data you choose to input.

From: SR Hill, Todwick, Sheffield.

FEW of the public know exactly what has been negotiated with regard to the Brexit deal other than what we read in the papers, or hear about through other media. I find it unacceptable that people are saying ‘let’s accept the Prime Minister’s deal and just get on with it’.

It has been apparent that the 540 or so pages of the document setting out the deal which the Prime Minister negotiated have been read by many able and well qualified people.

The British people voted for these MPs to speak for them, and these MPs are totally against the terms of this deal.

We have been told in lay terms what it means – tied to Europe without an end date.

One must ask why all the experienced Parliamentarians who are able to grasp the meanings in the Prime Minister’s deal, are vehemently against it and are currently in a majority of about 100.

Mrs May does seem to think ‘I’m right, it’s everyone else that’s wrong’.

I greatly fear if she is not stopped, she will destroy the Conservative government and hand our future to European unelected control.

From: Dai Woosnam, Woodrow Park, Grimsby.

SO Gareth Southgate says there were “racial undertones” in the Brexit vote. He is dead right. Unfortunately for him however, he points his finger at the wrong side.

For the plain fact is that there was naked racism exhibited throughout by, alas, native-born Remainers, who spent the run up to the vote – and the two years since – talking down Britain and her proud people.

Persistent anti-British sentiment is racism in anybody’s book.

From: Paul Morley, Long Preston, Skipton.

SO now a no deal Brexit will be chaos. Funny that, seeing as a few weeks ago it would be better than the bad deal about to be dumped on us.

Whatever the outcome, there is no possible excuse for chaos, as enough time has elapsed since the referendum vote to create contingency plans for all possible scenarios.

The fact that there isn’t simply shows that, apart from a principled few in Parliament, everyone from our duplicitous Prime Minister downwards, including the Civil Service, never had any intention of a complete withdrawal from the EU.

Still, it may yet come back to bite them when the many conservative (small ‘c’) people in this country see how they’ve been duped and change their voting habits for at least a generation.