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

​Those who have recently written letters to the Gazette supporting attempts to stop Brexit need to think very carefully about whether they really believe in democracy.
In the June 2016 referendum a majority of the UK population voted leave.
In the June 2017 general election 83% of the UK population voted for the two main parties (Conservative and Labour) who promised to respect the result of the referendum.
In the May 2019 Euro elections the newly formed Brexit Party gained more votes than any other UK party.
Democracy means accepting the result of an election, not just when your side wins – but however the public vote. Anything less is treating voters with contempt. I didn’t vote for the Brexit Party – but I accept the result because I believe in democracy.
The suggestion by Devizes for EU that Claire Perry MP has betrayed the voters of Devizes by saying she would not vote against a no deal Brexit is in fact, almost the exact opposite of the truth. She, along with every other Conservative MP, was elected by us on the basis of a manifesto which made five very specific promises about Brexit:
1. We would try to negotiate a withdrawal agreement with the EU (no one can say we didn’t try!)
2. We will seek to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement (The EU are refusing to even discuss this unless we agree to Northern Ireland being subject to the EU single market rules after Brexit and pay them £39 billion).
3. We are leaving the EU single market and customs union.
4. We are leaving the common fisheries policy.
5. And we will leave with or without a deal as “we continue to believe that no deal is better than a bad deal”.
Any Conservative MP who refused to positively vote for these very specific promises would be betraying the people who voted for them.
Dr Martin Parsons, Devizes