YEP Letters January 22

Parliament full of short term thinkers

Derrick Bond, Shadwell

A people’s vote?

Yes, let’s have a vote to get rid of all the MPs with their overblown egos who think that they know better than the voting public.

Parliament is full of short-term thinkers, which is why businessmen should have been negotiating the deal with Brussels.

Vote to leave is short sighted and egocentric

James Bovington, Horsforth

I’m confused by the letter from Harry Brooke of Meanwood in which he states that an ‘egocentric metropolitan elite still don’t get it’.

Would I be right in deducing that this obtuse riddle is a thinly-veiled swipe at those of us who regret the foolish and self-harming decision taken by 38 per cent of the electorate to abandon the status quo and force the good ship Britannia to sail off into choppy international waters?

There are Remainers who are Oxbridge educated but so are some prominent leavers like Boris. What the Leave campaign did - in addition to its dubious arithmetical advertising and idiotic hypothesis that the whole population of Turkey would descend on Muchbiding-in-the-Marsh one cold weekend - was to promote the delusion that cutting ties with the most successful trading bloc would be ‘taking back control’. Well we know where that has led.

I’m nothing special. I’ve lost most of my hair and all my good looks but as approach 60 I am more convinced than ever that the vote to leave is short-sighted, egocentric (to borrow Brooke vocabulary) based on fantasy and a fundamental misunderstanding of this country’s place in the world which has been considerably enhanced by membership of international organisations such as NATO and the EU.

Depriving young people of the life and career enhancing opportunity to study, live and work in Europe is cruel to them personally but harmful to this country’s interests as the contacts thus developed are useful for economic success. Then there’s the leavers willingness to put cancer treatment at risk by their ideologically driven rush to leave the Euratom agreement which has successfully facilitated radiotherapy for fifty years.

I read that demographics and the inevitable consequences of aging now mean that on previous voting patterns Remain would win a second referendum. When Britain voted in 1975 to remain in the EEC it was known exactly what was on offer - the vague promises of the 2016 leavers have now been shown to be vacuous with the chastened Liam Fox unable to produce trade deals that would be half as successful as the ones that we currently as EU members.

There is now a Remain majority in all four nations of the United Kingdom and a second vote in full knowledge of the facts would confirm that. Let young people aged 16 and 17 also vote on their future and I am convinced that 20 million would vote Remain. That would be the truly democratic option.

Make complete break from EU

Terry Watson, Adel

“Better no deal than a bad deal.” We never hear those words anymore from our Prime Minister.

She wants us to sign up to an agreement which gives the EU everything and we get nothing. In fact we end up being a passive follower of the EU’s barmy rules and regulations which other countries just ignore and we pay them £39 billion for the privilege.

There are so many disadvantages concealed in the small print. We have to make a complete break from the shackles of the EU and get our country back. Many of our most successful businessmen agree that the EU is ruining our economy and we will do much better out of it completely.

Margaret Thatcher told Tony Blair that our membership of the EU had been a complete disaster and to get us out of it. Churchill wanted a United States of Europe to save us having to sort their wars out , but did not want Britain to join.

Retirement age rise injustice

Steve Crees, Pontefract

One of the biggest injustices in recent years has been the lifting of the retirement age.

Women have been particularly hard done by . They began work in the belief that they would retire at 60, then three quarters of the way through heir working life, the Government moves the goalposts.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t ever remembering that being in any political party manifesto.

Can you imagine anyone voting to work an extra six years? No, neither can I.

So how on earth did this policy manage to get by unnoticed? My wife has worked continually for over 40 years in a manual job , had two children, paid her stamp for all of those years and now she has to carry on until she is nearly 67. If this is progress, then you can keep it.

MPs behaviour over Brexit

D Angood, by email

MPs are elected by receiving the highest number of votes cast during the election.

The choice the electorate make is a simple yes or no towards the candidates.

The winner does not necessarily receive the majority of votes, eg electorate 50,000, votes cast for elected person 21,000, votes against 29,000. The majority honour and respect the result, they do not attempt to manipulate the system to force another vote because they do not like the result.

The referendum was again a simple yes or no decision and all the rhetoric before it was each side trying to convince the electorate they were “right”.

No one knows if the “winner” will make a good MP just as no one knew how good Brexit would be (or how bad). The majority voted to leave so what justification have those MPs to try to halt, disrupt or derail that decision? A decision just as lawful and binding as an election result. One hopes the electorate have good memories when the next election comes along because the actions of some MPs has been despicable and in total contravention of the principles they are supposed to uphold.

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