Sir John Major defies democracy by branding the majority of voters stupid for choosing Brexit

SIR – First Tony Blair, then Lord Heseltine and now Sir John Major (report, February 28), all long-time Europhiles, seek to warn us of our stupidity in having voted to leave the EU. The arguments they deploy to support their views are well-known and were deployed ad nauseam during the referendum debate. Yet still the majority of voters rejected them and indeed have had their position vindicated thus far by Britain’s performance according to nearly all economic indicators.

These grandees say that while the majority voted to leave, they are standing up for the minority who didn’t. I don’t recall either former prime minister, when elected to office, claiming that those who voted for them were misguided and the views of their opponents should be listened to in equal measure.

A majority is a majority and that is what underpins democracy. Raymond D Cox Coat, Somerset SIR – Regarding the speeches by Sir John Major and Tony Blair (along with comments by Lord Mandelson and Lord Heseltine), there seems to be a belief in existence that those of us who voted to leave the EU did so without knowing that this would mean leaving the single market, the customs union and other EU bodies.

I would like to stress that those of us who voted to leave did not believe all the promises that Leave campaigners made, nor all the threats that Remain groups made either.

What we did do was look at the past decades of EEC/EU membership and decide, after weighing up the pros and cons, that we could probably do better both economically and democratically outside the EU.

Others are welcome to disagree with us and even to try to persuade us that we were wrong, as is their right. What they should not do is patronise those who voted to leave by assuming that they made their decision through ignorance or because they were somehow tricked by Leave campaigners. Mark Dickson Runcorn, Cheshire SIR – Sir John Major is a footnote trying to be a paragraph. Let him catch up with events.

The referendum is over, Project Fear did not work then, and it will not work now. James Kent Crakehall, North Yorkshire SIR – Would it be pertinent or impertinent to remind Sir John of his resignation statement: “When the curtain falls it is time to get off the stage and that is what I propose to do”? Andrew C Pierce Barnstaple, Devon SIR – Where is this Utopian EU that Sir John warns us about leaving? Dr Daphne Pearson Redbrook, Monmouthshire SIR – Sir John’s words might have carried more conviction were it not for the EU leaders’ determination to ensure that we are not better off outside the EU. They, at least, clearly believe that unless they penalise us by denying us access to their markets, that is precisely what the result will be.

That, in penalising us, they will harm themselves more merely serves to underline their concerns and gives the lie to Sir John’s. Jonathan Goodall Bath, Somerset SIR – Compared with Britain, the EU would appear to be a little screwed up. Philip Styles Cheddar, Somerset SIR – Most of us voted to leave the EU – accepting the probable pain – because we did not want to become a province of a European state.

The euro – an unmitigated disaster – was created in the Maastricht treaty precisely to “reverse engineer” political union, ruining a happy association for trade and cooperation.

I do not recall Sir John Major doing much to head it off, and for the remainder of his term he sat on the fence, a clear indication that he believed we should join eventually.

I suppose he is entitled to speak, but he should be seen as the proto-federalist that he is. Charles Pugh London SW10 SIR – First it was Clarke, then Blair, Mandelson, Heseltine and now Major. Oh, and not forgetting Sturgeon.

Now I know I was right to vote Brexit. Simon Sanders Metheringham, Lincolnshire