‘Democratic will’ is a work in progress

RH Ashton takes to task JL Stanfield for pointing out the dangers to cancer and other fields of research posed by Brexit (Letters, August 30 and September 1).

It seems to me that Mr Stanfield is offering verifiable data in support of his argument. This is more than can be said for Mr Ashton.

The central plank in his argument is to lecture us (“Look”) about why we shouldn’t expect to know “… all the implications of voting one way or the other when going into a referendum; and even if we did, it would likely cause confusion rather than be helpful.”

Only to Brexiteers it would seem. Like his fellow-Brexiteer Michael Gove, he has had enough of experts. Perhaps Mr Stanfield’s data and all the other factual arguments for Remain have been consigned to his own expertise bin.

Nowhere does he seek to address the important points Mr Stanfield raises about research spending.

As to the harmful effects of Brexit not becoming clearer, has Mr Ashton tried converting Sterling into Euros lately?

Post-referendum the world at large has written down our value by some 15%, and that’s before we leave. He complains that Remainers would want another referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal, “... but only if it produces the result he (Stanfield) wants, otherwise he will want another and another vote.”

Had the referendum result been otherwise Farage and the Tory right would have of course meekly accepted defeat and retired to a lounge bar somewhere.

What if the negotiations take us to the same place as Norway? Would Mr Ashton and his fellow-Brexiteers, all 37% of the electorate, “shout loudly enough and long enough” for another referendum? Would such a referendum be a “sad day for democracy”?

The “true democratic will of the British people” is a work in progress and has been since 1215.

That’s why we have frequent elections, not all of which lead to “strong and stable” government. Europe is also a work in progress.

“Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises” wrote Jean Monnet, a EU founding father. As we commemorate Passchendaele do we really want to trigger the next crisis?

It’s a no-brainer. Robin Lynn Sully