MPs who play politics with Brexit will be punished by their constituents

SIR – You report (November 13) that senior Tories dismissed by Theresa May have threatened to rebel over her Brexit plans if they are not reappointed.

They were dismissed because their new leader did not consider them competent or supportive enough to see through the wishes of the electorate. They should now knuckle down and show the people who elected them that they are prepared to support the Prime Minister.

They are owed nothing, especially undeserved promotion, and will have to earn their re-election – or find another form of employment. John H Price Holt, Wiltshire SIR – Some people have forgotten that 48 per cent of those who voted in the EU referendum wanted to stay.

In our democracy, these people need representation as much as the 52 per cent with opposing views – so why should some MPs be castigated for opting to represent them? Without effective opposition, government becomes dictatorship. Sally Lawton Kidlington, Oxfordshire SIR – By arguing that the invocation of Article 50 could be reversed by Parliament (report, November 11), the Government risks undermining the process – even if its appeal to the Supreme Court should succeed.

If the Prime Minister wishes to invoke Article 50, or any other device to initiate Brexit, she should table a Bill to that effect immediately, without detailing her strategy.

While the referendum was not decided by constituencies, it can be inferred that about two thirds of them voted Leave. In defeating the Bill, most disaffected MPs would provoke the wrath of their constituents. Chris Scott Netherne-on-the-Hill, Surrey SIR – As a pensioner who is one of an estimated 5.5 million British citizens resident overseas, I was denied the right to vote in the EU referendum. I only hold a British passport, and am already affected by the outcome of the vote. Yet I had no say in the matter.

When the Brexit debate comes before Parliament, as it should, I hope MPs will insist that this aberration of democracy will either be tested before a British or EU court.

A significant number of British citizens have been discriminated against, and this must be corrected before Article 50 is invoked – by way of a supplementary vote or by a referendum that includes all citizens. Derek Rye Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa SIR – At a press conference during Barack Obama’s farewell tour of Europe, he said that he “tries not to meddle in other people’s politics”.

Is this the same Barack Obama who told Britain to remain in the EU or else we would “go to the back of the queue” for trade deals with America? David Saunders Sidmouth, Devon