A slip of the lip

I call on everyone to be mindful of the language they use in debating Brexit issues. In particular, the repeated assertions by politicians and pundits alike that any failure to “respect” the result of the 2016 referendum, for example by calling for another referendum, would be a “betrayal” likely to result in serious civil disorder. This language will only tend to legitimise the disorder it fears. It lays the groundwork for people to feel justified in such behaviour.

Civil disorder may indeed be a possibility, but politicians and the media need to critique Leave and Remain opinions in a way that emphasises that although feelings may run high, tolerance and mutual respect are still the expected norm.

ROB PEARSON

Glamis Place Dalgety Bay, Fife

Joyce Mcmillan’s excellent article (“May Takes Union To Brink Of Collapse”, Perspective, 22 March) hit the nail on the head with regards to the arrogant and hapless approach to Brexit and the UK of Theresa May and her Tory party.

The bottom line is that the Conservative Party have little interest in the future of the UK. May’s only priorities are to save her own skin and keep the Tories in power.

Theresa May herself demonstrated that a vote on the popularity of the government can be taken at any time. The fact that it was one of the most inept political decisions in modern times has been obscured by the shambles she and her party have created in their attempts to leave the EU.

After two years and an avalanche of information highlighting the, at best, nefarious tactics of certain elements of the Leave campaign, people are now in a much more informed position to make a decision on their, and their children’s, future.

While May, Rees Mogg, Johnson and Corbyn et al circle each other waiting to pounce, the country is in disarray and their self-interested neglect of the growing desire for a final vote is nothing short disgraceful. When a government becomes shambolic the country can decide what it wants in the future. Theresa May constantly refers to “...the will of the people”. It is clear the will of the people has changed and it is disingenuous of her to ignore this. The only way out of this shambles is a final people’s vote. It may also be, as Joyce Mcmillan quite rightly alludes to, the only way of saving an already fragmented union. A union the Tories have little interest in.

D MITCHELL

Coates Place, Edinburgh

The PM’S “address to the nation” on Wednesday was breathtakingly mendacious and insulting. This least empathetic of politicians claimed to know how the public felt and, surprise, this turned out to be exactly how she felt.

She rested her case, yet again, on the “will of the people” when only 37.4 per cent of the electorate voted to leave in 2016. More recent polling evidence indicates a fall in support and this group, like her party, is hopelessly split between “no-deal” and her deal.

The only honesty in her address was the careful use of “this stage”, a faint reference to the years ahead of complex negotiation and political wrangling over future trade deals.

Over this time, the same deep split in her party will persist between those who want US alignment (and the de-regulation and privatisation which that entails) against those who lean towards Europe. The promise to end division in the country is worthless from someone who refuses even to acknowledge the division in her party and its central contribution to this mess.

On the surface, the English vicar’s daughter does not resemble Donald Trump, but her appeal was similar. She addressed her base support as if they were a mainstream majority, which they are not. She did not reach out to opponents; instead she not only vilified them but also the democratic system which supports and sustains opposition. There was a huge transference of blame from herself on to her opponents which totally flies in the face of evidence. The whole performance was a brazen, brass-necked assault on truth, deeply divisive while piously claiming to heal.

ROBERT FARQUHARSON Lee Crescent, Edinburgh

I read with alarm that Theresa May has said she is on our side and that the people want to move ahead with Brexit. Does the PM not realise that the entire Brexit case has been discredited? She most certainly does not speak for the majority of people. the leave campaign in 2016 comprised many undeliverables and lies. It has been denounced by various bodies as having used inappropriately acquired funding, and fines have been imposed upon them for illegal use of data. It is now time for MPS to spell out these truths and to pronounce that the result of the referendum is null and void.

A general election now would not change this, it would simply deliver a new Parliament with the same problems and issues. The one and only way out of this is to recognise the 2016 referendum as illegitimate, then hold a new referendum.

BRIAN O’CALLAGHAN Beauchamp Road Liberton, Edinburgh