Gazette and Herald 15 August 2019
John Boaler (Letters, August 8) rather imaginatively claims my letter implied that the Prime Minister has no democratic mandate for a no deal Brexit.
In fact, the exact opposite is true. The referendum asked a simple question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
It did not say “should we leave if the EU offers us a good deal when we leave?” anymore than it said “should we remain if the EU reduces our £9 billion a year membership costs?!”
What the Conservative manifesto (https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto) Mr Boaler refers to actually said is: “We will get on with the job and take Britain out of the European Union” (p7).
We will try to agree a free trade deal with the EU “We will pursue free trade with European markets, and secure new trade agreements with other countries.” (p36). However, as I pointed out in my 1 August letter – The EU are refusing to even discuss a free trade deal unless Northern Ireland is subjected to the EU single market rules after Brexit and we pay them £39 billion.
The manifesto also clearly recognised that the negotiations would be tough and stated “but we continue to believe that no deal is better than a bad deal for the UK” (p35-36).
In other words, if people voted Conservative then the Conservative manifesto promised we would leave the EU with, or without a deal.
Just in case, anyone missed it, it says that we are leaving the European Union no less than 17 times. That is exactly what the Prime Minister has stated that we must now do.
The suggestions in last week’s letters column that local Conservative MPs should not support this, would be a serious betrayal of local voters.
I appreciate that Euro enthusiasts do not like this. However, the challenge for them is whether or not they are prepared to respect the referendum result, which was the largest democratic vote in UK history.
Dr Martin Parsons, Devizes
In fact, the exact opposite is true. The referendum asked a simple question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
It did not say “should we leave if the EU offers us a good deal when we leave?” anymore than it said “should we remain if the EU reduces our £9 billion a year membership costs?!”
What the Conservative manifesto (https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto) Mr Boaler refers to actually said is: “We will get on with the job and take Britain out of the European Union” (p7).
We will try to agree a free trade deal with the EU “We will pursue free trade with European markets, and secure new trade agreements with other countries.” (p36). However, as I pointed out in my 1 August letter – The EU are refusing to even discuss a free trade deal unless Northern Ireland is subjected to the EU single market rules after Brexit and we pay them £39 billion.
The manifesto also clearly recognised that the negotiations would be tough and stated “but we continue to believe that no deal is better than a bad deal for the UK” (p35-36).
In other words, if people voted Conservative then the Conservative manifesto promised we would leave the EU with, or without a deal.
Just in case, anyone missed it, it says that we are leaving the European Union no less than 17 times. That is exactly what the Prime Minister has stated that we must now do.
The suggestions in last week’s letters column that local Conservative MPs should not support this, would be a serious betrayal of local voters.
I appreciate that Euro enthusiasts do not like this. However, the challenge for them is whether or not they are prepared to respect the referendum result, which was the largest democratic vote in UK history.
Dr Martin Parsons, Devizes