The referendum was flawed and the government didn’t have to act on it

Your editorial (Comment) criticising Mrs May’s speech was excellent in every respect – except one. You write that “the voters’ decision to leave the EU, though deeply regrettable, must be respected”. I strongly beg to differ.

The referendum was deeply flawed. Lies went unchallenged. It was only ever advisory (see House of Commons briefing paper 07212, June 2015). The government had no obligation to act on the outcome, especially when it was so close. Any golf club or musical society requires a super-majority for significant constitutional change; 52% to 48% falls well short of any super-majority. And now the government has grossly overinterpreted the result.

I wish to put steel into the backbones of both your editorial writer and the 400 MPs who were in favour of Remain, by getting them to withdraw any “respect” for the referendum outcome. We are in a tough battle. The “hard Brexiters” are currently in the ascendancy. Emerging events will weaken their already feeble case. We need to be “hard Remain”.

John Cole

Shipley, West Yorkshire

I noted with interest Toby Helm’s article “Immigration is lowest concern on young voters’ Brexit list” (News) Indeed, in the Opinium survey, 57% of young people said they were not confident that Brexit was being negotiated to suit their interests.

The New College of the Humanities also conducted research that underlined some of those findings. For instance, as our survey of 1,000 prospective humanities students and humanities graduates in the UK found, 64% of prospective humanities students and 71% of humanities graduates said that immigrants had enriched the UK. Further, seven out of 10 (67%) prospective humanities students said they believed the EU had strongly contributed to peace in Europe, with the number even higher among humanities graduates at 69%.

In the context of the Brexit negotiations, 71% of prospective students said they wanted the government to put all Brexit options on the table before invoking article 50. The number was even higher among humanities graduates – 76% . These findings are a credit to our young people and should not be ignored.

Professor AC Grayling

Master, New College of the Humanities

London WC1

If, after negotiations, the majority of MPs are opposed to a deal to leave the EU, the likely consequence will be either a general election or a second referendum (and not, as David Davis has suggested, that the UK will just leave anyway). In two years’ time, we will have a much clearer picture of what Brexit will mean and the UK’s demographics will have changed, with 1.6 million people having died to be replaced by 2.2 million new young voters. The Observer can help lead the fight against the Brexit folly by changing its position that leaving the EU is an inevitability.

If we still vote to leave in a second referendum, then heaven help us.

Robert Wilkin

Dunstable, Bedfordshire

The wise speak when they have something to say, the fool when they have to say something. In the era of Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, it is refreshing to have a prime minister who follows this adage.

Our European colleagues face many challenges.

• How to maintain the free movement of people in a world where terrorism has the potential to strike in any place.

• How to sustain a community where fewer than half the members are net contributors.

• How to manage the economic growth of countries with a shared currency through a central bank when they are at different stages of their individual economic growth cycle.

• How to develop international trade agreements quickly, outside a largely stagnating collective EU economy.



Martin Haigh

King’s Lynn, Norfolk