Letters: July 8, 2016

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EU decision is wrong

OPEN letter to MP James Gray:

Just to explain, I will not be alone in not accepting the referendum result – since, to be frank, it is wrong.

When I was a teenager I might have said then that all major decisions should be done via a referendum, but I have long since reached the conclusion this is not the way to run a democracy.

And, as I am sure we both know, this was a calculated risk that has gone wrong.

In short the reasons why I am against leaving the EU are:

Economy wise – we are wealthy as a nation now (think of where we were in the '70s ) but this has been in part due to our membership of the EU – if you had X amount of money to invest and country X had easy access to 500m people, but country Y did not why on earth would you opt to put your money in country Y? I know at the moment there is only talk of companies leaving but we are only a week on since the unexpected result.

Yes the price of the above is a small reduction in the power of a person’s vote – but this is in part since we are going from 1 in 60 million, to 1 in 500 million – a simplification of the situation I am sure but all members still have their own parliament and pass their own laws – sometimes directed in part by Europe, but from what I can see those directions have largely been to our benefit.

Yes we need to contribute more than we get out but as above we are wealthy and like any progressive tax system the wealthy pay more than the less wealthy – in the longer term that will be to our advantage.

Immigration – Britain’s population in the last 50 years has gone up by 20 per cent, the world population has doubled – we are not outside of the world, we need to play our part and immigration has been a key part in our growth to a wealthy nation as above. It will cause some friction as cultures clash but movement of people is causing some friction in all corners of the world. Its advantages though are manyfold and not nearly as well documented or publicised – as we all know good news does not the make the news.

Add to the above the Scotland issue, the Irish border issue, the Calais situation.

The overriding reason though is for me and possibly more importantly my children that we shouldn’t as people be turning away from groups of people. That isn’t the way the world works and if you think that is the way in short you are missing out.

This is the wrong decision and that is fundamentally why it will not be accepted by me or many others.

I am consoling myself (to an extent) with the realisation that the referendum result is in effect only a pointer and not binding.

The decision to leave the EU still has to go through Parliament – as you well know, there Leavers are in the minority and I hope that will save the country from the ugly way we have been led to date.

It will cause uproar and be controversial but it will be well worth it.

As a final comment, Points West just started and headlined with the rise in racial abuse since last Friday – a good country currently being led down a very ugly road.

JEREMY SMITH

New Road, Royal Wootton Bassett

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Majority won the day

MY FELLOW correspondents Mike Spry and Stephen Thompson appear very unhappy at the democratic decision of a majority of voters to seek an exit from the EU political construct.

So unhappy are they that Stephen is moved to suggest that the Leave vote is a betrayal of the future of young people, to which some might say “what utter nonsense.”

If the vote had been 52 per cent to 48 per cent in support of Remain I am sure my friends would be calling on Leavers to accept the result with good grace and acknowledge the arguments to Leave had not been made.

We all know that exaggeration and hyperbole was the stock in trade of both camps, just as it is in almost any politically-inspired election campaign.

But for Stephen to state that the Brexiteers have already gone back on their promises is untrue, for the referendum was not about promises and there was no manifesto from either side.

He well knows the outcome of the decision requires the elected Government to act in accordance with the will of the people, albeit Parliament can, if it so wishes, simply ignore the referendum result.

The voice of the people has been heard and in the absence of any rule to the contrary the majority won the day.

Many may not like it but are we now to see the ballot box challenged until the ‘right decision’ is made? Something which, I must confess, is so typically EU.

DES MORGAN

Caraway Drive, Swindon

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High price of Brexit

WHAT a very interesting take on the EU result from Rob Bluh (SA, July 4) the ex-Tory Swindon Borough Council leader who managed to exit the role prior to the excrement hitting the fan, over various matters that he presided over which ultimately led up to SBC’s current financial malaise.

I share his fears that Brexit will have come at a very high price, both economically and politically.

And I also share his fears of now being isolated in Europe as our decision will cause problems for the EU for which we will not be forgiven.

Like Mr Bluh I also liked the idea of nations working in friendship and common cause.

And anything which lessens the chance of conflict between European nations must surely be a good thing.

However, I must admit that the next part of Mr. Bluh’s letter had me scratching my head, as I fully understood his meaning regarding our way of life being under attack from extremists which I think is in reference to acts of terrorism around the world.

However, I cannot understand what he means by ‘Putin becoming ever more menacing, meaning that we should be standing shoulder to shoulder in defiance.’

From what I can see the boot is clearly on the other foot with US-led NATO forces menacingly right up to the borders of the Russian Federation, which appears to be an effort to provoke a conflict and possibly a Third World War.

It rather does make one wonder what ‘these idiots’ playing at soldiers are up to while supposedly representing the interests of British and European citizens but being led along by the US as always.

I will agree with Mr Bluh that we must not be intolerant to immigrants that are already here as he quite rightly says that the majority make a vital contribution to our country.

And I would go a bit further in saying that recent events up and down our land which involved attacks on the Polish and Eastern European communities as well as others from further afield are disgusting and must be dealt with severely before right wing barbaric hysteria against them is allowed to take hold.

Finally, even though my politics are firmly to the left of the late ‘uncle Joe Stalin’ I too share the view of Mr Bluh that the loss of David Cameron as Prime Minister, although inevitable, will be a hard act to follow.

Even though I often found myself vehemently disagreeing with nearly everything that came out of his mouth he was good at the job, and did have a sort of family man charisma about him.

Let the people decide with a General Election I say!

GA WOODWARD

Nelson Street, Swindon

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Referendum challenge

I WRITE in response to the article concerning the pro-EU march held in Swindon on Saturday.

You are correct to point out in your article that the march coincided with the much larger march in London attended by tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, including myself.

I attended this march as the result of the referendum needs to be challenged given the lies told by the Leave campaign from the start of the campaign to the day of the referendum.

From my discussions with other people and my observation of online debates both before and after the vote, it is obvious that many people based their decision on which way to vote upon those lies, which covered a wide range of issues, including the cost of our EU membership, immigration and the amount of UK law made by the EU.

While it would be fair to criticise people for taking those lies at face value and for failing to verify what they were being told, I do not do so as those people had a right not to be lied to.

The argument is not with those who voted to leave, but with the people who told those lies.

With regard to people (including Mark Edes who was quoted in the report) who take exception to the result of this so-called ‘democratic decision’ being challenged, I would say that they need to address their concerns to the individuals that told those lies such as Nigel Farage, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, and ask them why they lied.

It is perfectly possible to present an argument that the result was so narrow that a further referendum should be called (particularly as Nigel Farage indicated he would call for one in the event of a narrow Remain win) or on the basis that only 37 per cent of the electorate have voted to leave the EU.

But for myself and many others it is the dishonesty of the Leave campaign that means the result must be be challenged, particularly as, unlike in a General Election, we will not get the chance to change this decision in four or five years time.

No doubt some will say both sides were dishonest and told lies.

However, warning about the consequences of leaving is not lying, even when you call those warnings scaremongering.

What we have just seen was not democracy in action, but a mockery of democracy given the industrial scale of the lies told by the deceitful and dishonest the Leave campaign

As a consequence, the result of the referendum has no legitimacy.

ADAM POOLE

Savill Crescent, Wroughton

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Better use of money

JUST a thought. Reading about the GWH Brighter Futures appeal it would take only two hours of the net money sent to Brussels to pay for this very necessary unit.

A far better use of taxpayer money to my way of thinking, or am I being a xenophobic little Englander?

IAN TITCOMBE

Coln Crescent,

Swindon