Demand for a second vote on EU

Mike Tibby concludes his letter of October 28 with the demand that “all those MPs who voted to remain and their constituents who voted to leave should all by now have given up on politics, for clearly they represent nobody but themselves.”

I believe Mr Tibby is mistaken in his demand, as he fails to take into account that:

1) MPs are elected on the understanding they will represent all their constituents and not just those with whom they happen to agree. Any attempt to alter this understanding paves the way to tyranny.

2) A very large majority of Britons did not vote to leave the EU. Out of a total electorate of 46,500,001, 37.44% voted to leave, 34.71% voted to remain and 27.85% decided to abstain (strange no one seems at all interested in these people and their motivations for abstaining – they too have their rights and need to be taken into account)

3) This was an advisory referendum and is therefore not binding on Parliament or the government. Parliament is obliged to consider the result, but it is under no obligation to act on it if, after due consideration, it decides it is not in the best interests of the nation. Ultimately parliament is sovereign, or at least is supposed to be.

Like Mr Tibby I shall conclude my message with a demand. I demand a second referendum. I think it would be a jolly good idea. In this I am fully supported by a leading Brexiter – none other than Mr Nigel Farage himself.

Readers might recall a few weeks before the referendum, when it seemed the leavers were heading for defeat, Mr Farage claimed unless the Remain campaign won by a two-thirds margin there would be unfinished business and that if Remain won by a narrow margin of, for example, 52% over 48%, then there would be an unstoppable demand for a re-run of the referendum.

Remarkably, the referendum outcome actually was split 52% to 48%, but to the advantage of the Leave campaign.

I am with Nigel Farage on this one. The Leave majority was pathetic and signifies nothing. There is indeed unfinished business and this can be most easily dealt with by a second referendum. Michael Aylward, address supplied to editor