YOUR report (Echo, Jan 11) that hate crimes ‘spiked’ in Weymouth and Portland after the Referendum on Brexit, is unsurprising though a matter of grave concern.

The narrow win for Brexit seems to have given certain extremists the sense that they are free to utter hatred, and commit crimes against all those who disagree with them, and also foreigners.

We should not forget that during the Referendum campaign, one Remain MP (Labour) was murdered on the street, and another (Conservative) was threatened with beheading. Such things were never known in Britain before Brexit came along.

And since that time, a panel of judges have been described in one pro-Brexit tabloid as the ‘enemies of the people’ for interpreting the law impartially, and an impeccably patriotic civil servant has been abused by Brexit newspapers simply for failing to provide easy answers sympathetic to their case.

As for our MPs, the great majority of whom voted to Remain, many are now intimidated from expressing their opinion, though they are still quite convinced that to leave the EU would be disastrous for the country.

I do not think that those of us who oppose Brexit should allow ourselves to be cowed by the climate of fear which some of its supporters are seeking to create.

Having the right to express your opinions is what British democracy is all about. We are not yet North Korea.

DR ALAN CHEDZOY

Spa Road Weymouth

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