YP Letters: We would have less uncertainty if voting was compulsory

AFTER months of reading arguments and counter arguments as to the ‘validity’ of the referendum result, I begin to wonder what the result might have been had we followed the example of Australia.

There, under federal electoral law, it is compulsory for all eligible Australian citizens to enrol and vote in federal elections, by-elections and referendums. Failure to vote brings with it a $20 fine.

Using the Australian voting system, whether the 28 per cent who did not bother to vote in the 2016 referendum decided to vote to remain or to leave the EU, the final result would have produced a majority of the electorate, not just the 72 per cent who turned out then, in favour of ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the EU. As a result, we would have a definite answer to the question on the ballot paper.

From: Peter Bye, Park Crescent, Addingham.

WHEN we were granted the concession of keeping the pound, there was never any intention that any long-term EU membership would not include membership of the euro.

When Poland joins the euro, it leaves the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Bulgaria outside the euro. The single European State will set rules for the single market. If we continue to be a member of the EU, this will have a direct effect on us after 2020.

This is the ‘elephant in the room’ as far as our political Remainers are concerned, but I’ve never heard mention of it.

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

BRIAN Sheridan paints a convincing picture of Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn (The Yorkshire Post, August 20).

I question only his mentioning Corbyn’s “constancy” with no reference to the other two. Trump is on his third wife and as for Johnson...?

As I write, Harrogate is enjoying a Gilbert & Sullivan festival. Add Jacob Rees-Mogg to the other three, all largely disconnected from 90 per cent of us, that would provide the ingredients for an entertainment which would outshine even the best of the undoubted Masters. As to government: Oh dear!

From: Sally Todd, Pickering.

WHY is David Cameron so silent on Brexit? He got us in this mess by ordering a referendum in the first place. To me, his strategy was as fundamentally flawed as Tony Blair’s military misadventures in Iraq. Both are a national embarrassment to this country. Do others agree?