Would Farage and company kept quiet if vote had been remain?

IN RESPONSE to Len Monk, “Thank you UKIP” and Richard Sanders, “Doom mongers should support negotiators” Echo April 2.

I would like to say that, as one who voted to “remain”, I appreciate the work of Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Ken Clarke and a whole host of Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs in their efforts to ensure that we have the best deal possible as we exit the European Union, and that Parliament and not just the Government, has a say in those negotiations.

We have the “Leave Means Leave” group seeking to exert pressure on the Government to get the exit that it wants and UKIP saying that its role is to “hold the Government’s feet to the fire” to get the exit it wants and yet if any of us who voted to “remain” has the temerity to argue for our point of view we are “remoaners”, “doom mongers” and, heaven forbid, “enemies of the people”.

Does anyone imagine that if the referendum vote had gone the other way that that would have been the last we would have heard of Farage and co?

During the referendum both sides made outrageous claims/ threats; Osborne’s “emergency budget” and UKIP’s “£350million a week for the NHS”. None but the most naive believed these claims.

The only prediction that has come true so far is the the value of the £ has fallen. This has helped exporters but put up the price of imports including food ; and food inflation is now at a three year high.

As democrats we have accepted the outcome of the referendum but the referendum did not define our future relationship with Europe; that outcome is still there to be argued about whether it be control of immigration, our status within the single market and customs union, workers’ rights, climate change, co-operation on security or the role of the European Court.

These are massive issues and all sides of the debate deserve to be heard.

Why are some “leavers” so keen to close down this debate? What is it that they fear? As the UK prepares to leave the biggest free trade area in the world it is only right and proper that the negotiations are open and transparent, that Parliament has a say in these negotiations and that the consequences of the final settlement are fully under- stood. Only then can we have a post Brexit economy that, “works for all”.

Frank Fay Upper Green Loughborough