The voices of opposition to Brexit cannot be ignored

LORD Strathclyde’s warning to the House of Lords not to create a public v Lords battle should be roundly ignored [“Don’t pit peers against the people, Lords warned as it begins Brexit Bill debate”, February 20].

I say Strathclyde’s sole interest is to avoid a row while the ship of state sails blithely on. Unfortunately, the ship is heading for the rocks.

If the good Lord was really interested in democracy, he would be reminding us, as former Prime Minister Tony Blair did last week, that minds and plans can and should change if the outcome looks unfavourable. Democracy also requires acceptance that the opposition has a right to a legitimate viewpoint — something that the crowing David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson do not get.

A halfway democratic Brexit would respect the position of the 48 per cent who did not vote Leave and pay particular attention to areas such as London or Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly in favour of Remain. Instead, we have “hard Brexit” and, if negotiations fail, a threat to jump into the arms of President Trump.

If row avoidance is what Lord Strathclyde wishes to achieve, he should watch this space if the views of Remain voters continue to be so contemptuously treated.

ALEXANDER McLaren may have changed his mind about Brexit [Letters, February 20] but more fool him for not understanding the issues in the first place. Everyone I know who voted Leave feels exactly the same way as they did last June.

We voted to leave a bureaucratic organisation which has become the United States of Europe; we voted to ensure that Britain can negotiate its own trade arrangements, make its own laws, and decide what is best for its economy and its residents, wherever they originally came from.

It is not possible for 28 countries with different economies, industries, histories and cultures to want or need the same things. The result is every nation has to compromise — and I don’t think that is fair for any country.

I WISH it had been someone other than Tony Blair who said we should rise up against Brexit, but he voiced what at least 48 per cent of us feel.

It is too simplistic for Brexiteers to suggest that those of us who voted Remain should just shut up and concede the democratic vote. If the result had gone the other way, I very much doubt that they would have meekly accepted the result.

Democracy means those of us who fear the dire consequences of leaving Europe have the right to continue to campaign, to try and persuade our fellow citizens to support us and push to reverse a decision we feel is potentially disastrous.