SIR, I beg to disagree with Oliver Letwin.

The electorate must be consulted again before the country finally quits the EU. Whether that consultation is by way of an election or a referendum is a moot point. If, as I suspect, it is by way of an election, many people will no doubt remember that the only reason the country has been torn apart and possibly broken up will be because of an internal dispute within the Conservative party.

As so many people said before the referendum, they did not really have enough facts to form a view. In other words, the public did not actually know what it was voting for. I suggest that the future of the country cannot rest on such an ill informed decision .

Once the government has settled its own view on the sort of future it wants outside the EU there is no doubt article 50 will be triggered at which point discussions with the EU can commence. At this point it is possible the government may get a shock and find the EU in a not very forgiving mood. I am aware of the argument that they need us more than we need them but I’m not so sure – EU represents about 45 per cent of our export market, we represent seven per cent of theirs. The Eurocrats will also want to discourage other countries from thinking there is no cost to leaving.

It’s only at the end of this period of negotiation that we will actually know what Brexit will look like, and there is a wide range of possibilities.

At one extreme would be a trading relationship quite similar to what we currently have, with access to the single market but some meaningful restriction on movement across borders.

At the other end would be total separation from the single market, no freedom of movement, acceptance of trade barriers and tariffs, and full reversion to plucky old England mode ( and it will be England, as the union would surely break up).

Once the full package is known, at that point the electorate must have its say and surely it must be by way of a general election.

At the moment it looks as if all the major parties ( Liberals, SNP, Labour) except the Tories are likely to go in to an election on a largely pro EU ticket. I suspect that if, by then, the Tories are largely anti EU, they will be wiped out.

At this time none of us have a clue what the final outcome will look like but it surely cannot be right that the future of the country be decided, after such a narrow vote influenced by so many lies, without the electorate being consulted on the detailed package.

Paul Cocks via email