Scare tactics used in Referendum debate

DEAR Editor, As an opponent to Gisela Stuart in Edgbaston in the 2015 General Election, I did many hustings on the campaign trail with her.

Every time, I found Gisela to be a strong, yet fair debater.

I welcomed the news that Gisela is pushing the UK government to be clear regarding the status of EU citizens in the UK, following us leaving the European Union.

This, however, is where I become confused. Gisela chaired the Leave campaign, which was disappointing at best and xenophobic at worst.

I have never heard from Gisela herself, anything which I consider xenophobic or disrespectful.

It is therefore disappointing that the Leave campaign, chaired by Gisela, used lofty goals and implicit suggestions, which later turned out to be untrue – such as on how much we gave to the EU every week, where we would spend it if we left and lowering or stopping immigration, which now apparently wasn’t a goal at all.

I fear the “all politicians lie” belief some people have will be made much worse if a vast majority of 17 million voters, who chose Leave, feel cheated by promises made with no intention or ability to carry them out.

This will further disenfranchise a number of people who used their vote to wake the establishment up, only to find that a large portion of it is still very much asleep.

Some have claimed they’d like to see the law change to cover election lies or “untruths” being a punishable offence.

Whilst that’s under debate, we could start by hearing from senior people in both camps why they used fantasy information to scare people.

So, I’ll get this going: Gisela – when do you believe the first £350 million extra a week will be spent on the NHS? Lee Dargue, Liberal Democrat activist and

candidate for Edgbaston 2015. By Email