YP Letters: Remainer towns are not a cut above when it comes to Brexit

IS your correspondent M E Wright of Harrogate trying to prove that Leeds, York and Harrogate are a cut above the rest of Yorkshire in being the only areas in Yorkshire to vote Remain in 2016? He self-mockingly calls them nests of vipers. I prefer to suggest a blend of very smug fat cats and haughty giraffes.

The large concentration of higher education establishments that depend on EU funding that is merely recycled largesse emanating from part of our burdensome EU subscription, together with an extremely high student population that has contributed heavily throughout the UK to the Remain cause, probably explains the voting pattern of these enclaves.

London, like Leeds, but plainly more so, relies immensely on its financial activity. Brexit is a potential mainstream threat to the City and that is one of the central reasons for it being the only geopolitical region in England to vote for Remain.

Furthermore, the high immigrant population with its roots abroad vote for the diversity that the EU champions.

The Remainers, especially in the South, casually blame the North and Midlands for what they regard as the nation’s betrayal. Many have never travelled north of Watford and regard the denizens in these parts, especially the older generation, as flat cap and braces survivors of the Industrial Revolution who are still steeped in the Churchill spirit.

Most of the well-to-do Remainers cannot believe that the South-East region, with its comfort zone in the EU, could possibly vote leave, but it is heartening to know that a majority there chose principle and democracy over economic expediency.

From: Brian Black, Beverley.

I WAS dismayed to read Mr J Dawson’s letter (The Yorkshire Post, March 28) – he doesn’t appear to understand the difference between patriotism and nationalism.

The true patriot desires what’s best for his/her country, which in this case, I believe, is continuing membership of the EU, whereas the (mainly) well-heeled people driving the Leave campaign seem to be motivated by a vague and ill-considered idea of nationalism.

As we know from recent history, and indeed from current events, nationalism usually has a very negative impact on geo-politics. When the Leavers repeat their mantra “take back control”, they don’t, of course, mean control of the people by the people, but rather control by the powerful and privileged in the UK. We need a charismatic leader like Josep Borell who made an impassioned speech in front a huge crowd of Catalans in Barcelona shortly after their “unofficial” referendum exhorting them to be both Catalan and Spanish. We can be both British and European.

From: John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon, Shipley.

GEORGE Parker and Alex Barker are two Financial Times journalists who have been trailing David Davis as our Brexit Secretary has been working his way round European capitals.

According to the two reporters, our Mr Davis has struggled to find any statesman or official from the remaining 27 countries “who do not regard the Brexit project as anything other than mad at worst or an unwelcome distraction at best” (their words). The response that has come from the R27 following the Salisbury attack – for example, the sending back to Russia of spying “diplomats” from their capitals – tells us who our friends are. We should reflect carefully on their opinion of our Brexit policy.

From: Amjad Bashir, Conservative MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber.

I WAS intrigued to see that Jean Claude Juncker had written to Vladimir Putin congratulating him for winning the Russian election. As if the result were ever in doubt. I expect his next letters of felicitation will be to the stars for coming out at night and the rivers for continuing to flow downhill.

Bequests help beat disease

From: Professor Mark Kearney, British Heart Foundation funded professor at the University of Leeds.

AS a Professor of Cardiovascular and Diabetes Research at the University of Leeds, I see first-hand how devastating heart disease can be. We are determined to spare more families the pain of losing a loved one to these conditions.

Research funded by the British Heart Foundation has helped halve death rates from heart and circulatory diseases over the past 50 years. So much of our work has only been possible thanks to the amazing individuals who have remembered the BHF in their will. These special gifts fund more than a quarter of all cardiovascular research in the UK.

In the past year, Yorkshire and the Humber residents left £5.9m in their wills to the British Heart Foundation to help fund life saving cardiovascular research. I would personally like to honour these people and express our gratitude to their families for making research breakthroughs possible and helping to save thousands of lives.

But there’s still so much more to do, and there are 580,000 people in Yorkshire and the Humber living with cardiovascular disease right now. A new study shows that over a third of over-65s polled in the region said they would consider leaving a gift to charity in their will, the top motivations for this included ‘wanting to make a difference’ and it ‘feeling like the right thing to do’.

I would like to say a huge thank you to all those who have already decided to support the BHF in this way and encourage more people to consider doing the same, so we can unlock further medical breakthroughs and save more lives.

A gift of any size, after you’ve provided for your loved ones, will enable the BHF to continue to fund pioneering research so we can beat heart and circulatory disease for good. Please visit bhf.org.uk/wills To find out more about leaving a gift in your will.