Parliament has already sought the people’s views on Brexit, yet it refuses to implement them

SIR – In the Commons, Dominic Grieve said: “Parliament must now take back control and then give the final decision back to the public because, in the end, only the people can sort this out.”

Haven’t we been here before? And didn’t the people sort it out?

Hilda Ford

Corsham, Wiltshire

SIR – No doubt Mr Grieve and his followers are devotees of the latest Bank of England scenarios of doom if we have a no-deal Brexit.

The irony is presumably lost on them that, behaving as they are, the likelihood of the mad Marxists gaining control increases, which would result in far more damage to Britain and its economy than even the most outlandish of the Bank’s offerings.

Earl of Ronaldshay

Richmond, North Yorkshire

SIR – Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, told the House of Commons that “it would be against the public interest” to reveal the advice that he had given the Government.

Now that it has been published, we can see that it confirms what everyone thought about the Withdrawal Agreement. His justification for non-disclosure looks like pure smokescreen.

Richard Tweed

Croydon, Surrey

SIR – Reading the disclosed text of the Attorney General’s advice to the Prime Minister on the protocol governing our exit from the EU, I was struck by his comment that ultimately this will be for political, rather than legal, resolution.

This calls to mind De Gaulle’s acute comment: “Treaties, you see are like girls and roses; they last while they last.” Should we not therefore take the implicit pragmatism and threat expressed in this French view of the permanence of international agreements to heart, and back the PM’S deal?

Steven Abbott

Diss, Norfolk

SIR – Theresa May keeps using the phrase “the deal on the table”. But the Government has not yet started to negotiate a trade deal, bar the short “wishlist”, which is not legally binding.

What is on the table is a thoroughly disreputable Withdrawal Agreement that could break up the United Kingdom and, as 17.4 million frustrated Brexit voters in the 2016 referendum will agree, will not deliver a clean exit from the European Union nor, more specifically, from the European Court of Justice.

This Prime Minister must go.

Peter Shaw

Okehampton, Devon

SIR – A Remainer is appointed Prime Minister and does nothing of substance for two years, although she forces two Brexit Secretaries to resign when they disagree with her.

Ad nauseam she tells us that no deal is better than a bad deal. At the last possible moment she comes up with a deal that unites practically everyone against her. Now she tells us that her bad deal is better than no deal, which would be disastrous.

A few hours later, the senior legal adviser of the European Court of Justice pops up to tell us that we can revoke Article 50 without any penalty and therefore remain in what seems to be a prison.

If we do remain under these circumstances, there could be a whirlwind that would sweep everything away. In any case, I doubt whether the electorate would acquiesce in a servile, indefinite customs union.

John Gwatkin

Broughton, Lincolnshire

SIR – I am in tears! I thought I lived in the greatest, fairest, most democratic country in the world. Now I realise that I don’t, thanks to a bunch of arrogant MPS and civil servants who believe that their opinions should carry more weight than those of the 17 million who voted to leave the EU.

Democracy in this country is dead and I think that I will never vote in a parliamentary election again. What would be the point?

Pamela Giles

Bushey, Hertfordshire

SIR – Britain has gone to war for smaller threats to our sovereignty and independence than this humiliating Brexit surrender document.

David JP Pierce Jones

Geneva, Switzerland

SIR – Mark Harper’s article (Comment, December 5) was refreshing in its clarity and political courage.

He is highly regarded in Westminster on all sides as a thorough, careful thinker, and he has the strong support of his constituents. He may reflect the views of many Conservative voters on the appalling mess that the PM and her civil servants have made.

Alan Bensted

Emeritus Professor of Law St Briavels Common, Gloucestershire

SIR – Are Mr Cox and Mrs May competing in a gurning competition? Both have pulled some grotesque facial expressions in the past few days.

Richard Morris

Lutterworth, Leicestershire

SIR – Where can I buy a yellow vest?

Peter Leatherbarrow

Harleston, Norfolk