I HAVE resisted the temptation to join in the Brexit debate until now. I got so much joy from the letter of Henry Prankerd’s letter Second Vote Call on September 12 that I could resist no longer.

There have been some crazy pieces written over the last couple of years, both for and against.

But for Henry to continually quote democracy, especially stating that “not to allow a second referendum will deny democracy” is clearly democracy according to Henry.

It is a shame that most comments from people who feel we should remain are very negative, full of doom and gloom. When the truth has always been that no one can really know the full impact until after the complete breakaway.

Where I would agree with Henry, is when he suggests that politicians should pull together and act in the national interest. That also applies to us, members of the public. The constant fighting of politicians from all persuasions has belittled our position in the fight, yes fight, to get the best deal possible. When the EU see the split in our country they are clearly going to use that against us in negotiation. If they saw a united Britain strong and determined to stand alone they would have to think twice about their own future.

Slightly aside, in my opinion we have been negotiating with the wrong people. The self interest of the EU means potential suicide for them to give us a “good deal”. There could be 27 other countries banging on the door.

From day one our negotiations should have been with all countries direct.

Whenever I travel through Europe and talk to ordinary people I find that most have a very uncomfortable feeling about the direction of the EU. This discussion needs to go far deeper than us and them. Deep down we are all us and them. People are simply people. Because I want our country to leave this bureaucratic non-entity does not mean I hate the French or Polish or even the Germans. We are all God’s people. Individual interests can also be, with discussion and negotiation, common interests.

Of course the gem in Henry’s letter is the second paragraph. I’m not sure where he got the figures but regardless it’s going to make all future elections and all voting such fun. To see Jeremy Vine not only juggling with the Blue graph and the Red graph (sorry Lib Dems and others) but best of all the expected deaths over the next five years against the potential new young voters, (and working out if they could be bothered to vote), well, it could bring in a whole new audience. Forget the jungle, I think we could all be shouting “Get me out of here”.

Now there’s a thought, a new slogan for the leavers.

Well done Henry, thanks for giving me a smile.

John Liles

Preston

Weymouth