Unless Brexit-supporting Conservatives make a stand, the party faces oblivion at the polls

SIR – Fraser Nelson (Comment, April 5) argues that the Conservative Party, under a new leader, could yet “heal the Brexit divide” in the country.

That is all very well, in theory. However, given that the current likelihood is that Theresa May will achieve her aim of trapping Britain in some form of non-brexit for an indeterminate period, I think the chances of success will be slim.

Even if Mrs May’s successor is a committed Leaver, will he or she be willing to risk restarting the whole divisive debate by giving the EU a clear ultimatum that, unless a genuine, mutually beneficial free trade agreement can be reached within a very short timescale, Britain will indeed leave without a deal? Would Parliament allow it? If it came to a general election, would the voters believe it?

I fear that Quentin Letts, writing in the same edition, is closer to the truth. Mrs May and her Conservative Party In Name Only will be reviled for years to come. Unless Conservative Brexiteers stand up to those within their ranks who are defying democracy, Brexit is a dead duck and our next prime minister will, as Mr Letts puts it, be a Marxist “with a soft spot for the IRA”. John Waine

Nuneaton, Warwickshire

SIR – I hope Fraser Nelson is right that “with a new leader, the Tory party could yet stage a stunning recovery” – but all will depend on choosing the best leader, not the one to whom the various factions object least.

The past three years should have alerted Tory MPS to what happens if you fall for the soft option. Bryan Clark

Ludlow, Shropshire

SIR – Your leading article (“The Tory party is worth fighting for”, April 5) is of course correct. However, there are a number of Euro-fanatic Conservatives who, in collaboration with the Marxist Jeremy Corbyn, have created a crisis. The Prime Minster is also to blame. Those of us who are still against the Withdrawal Agreement disagree with it because it undermines the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, and because for a significant number of years we will be governed by the majority vote of the 27 other member states, putting us at the mercy of our competitors. This applies to businesses, trade unionists and British workers. If Jeremy Corbyn were to accept the Withdrawal Agreement and vote for the Withdrawal and Implementation Bill, which would convert the agreement into UK domestic law, any such humiliating control over our politically castrated Parliament would apply to any government.

This would include all law-making by the EU’S Council of Ministers under all the treaties. My European Scrutiny Committee has demanded sight of this Bill for weeks, but has been denied access to it by the Government.

Sherelle Jacobs (Comment, April 5) is also right to say that there is still time for the Government’s ministers to avoid “political annihilation” if they listen to the electorate and the members of the European Research Group who reject the Withdrawal Agreement in favour of a no-deal exit by April 12.

Sir William Cash MP (Con)

London SW1

SIR – Look on the bright side. Our worst-ever Parliament should provide a surplus of candidates suitable for elevation to the House of Lords. Ellis Gibbons

Bolton, Lancashire

SIR – Steve Black (Letters, April 5) says he will not be voting at all in the next general election. I suggest that he, and anyone else contemplating the same, should instead write “None of the above” on the ballot paper if there is no acceptable alternative candidate.

If significant numbers of people did this, it would have a greater impact than simply staying at home. Ken Stevens

Sonning Common, Oxfordshire