Readers discuss the stance of neutrality adopted at this week’s party conference and whether Jeremy Corbyn can appeal to both sides of the EU debate

Paula Surridge is right up to a point (The political divide goes deeper than leave v remain, Journal, 24 September). I found, as did friends to the right and left of me in the Labour party, that Europe and EU membership is a stronger part of my identity than being part of the political tribe of Labour. I was a member for 38 years, but Brexit is something both existential and civilisational that has driven me to leave Labour as its leadership continues to traduce the party’s pro-European values. This is despite agreeing with many of Labour’s policies. Being European is simply bigger than being Labour.

Carole Tongue

MEP for London East, 1984-99

• After Labour has negotiated a new Brexit deal, to include membership of the customs union and close alignment with the single market (ie in it), why would anyone prefer that deal, with few if any voting rights, to remaining? And why, therefore, would any leave voter support a party which is effectively taking leave off the table in any referendum? Labour’s position is remarkable in alienating the very people it has been designed to attract, and will almost certainly alienate the remainers as well.

John Shanahan

Manchester

• You say Jeremy Corbyn needs to keep remain on side: a rerun of the referendum that pits remain against a leave option too specific to win is not enough – he should also ditch “his leftwing Euroscepticism” (Editorial, 24 September). The opposite is the case: 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU, and many remainers also have marked Eurosceptic tendencies. Corbyn refers to “the remain and hopefully reform option” (Report, 24 September), yet there is a distinct absence of concrete “reform” proposals coming from Labour. At least give us some specific reforms to sell on the doorstep.

Peter McKenna

Liverpool

• I sometimes get the feeling that the Guardian thinks Jeremy Corbyn is just plain wrong about the EU and that wiser heads in the Labour party are backing it (Forget Brexit. The new battle is over who will succeed Corbyn, Journal, 23 September).

Like Corbyn, I’m ambivalent about the issue. I voted against the EU in 1975 after the TUC condemned it as too rightwing, but couldn’t vote leave in 2016 because I was disgusted by the way the campaign was run. But this doesn’t mean that the EU has changed. Look at the way it treated Greece: the people overwhelmingly voted for fiscal reform and the EU refused to respect that vote – and now the country has a nice centre-right government again, just what the EU wanted. Job done, eh?

Michael Bath

Rochester, Kent

• Labour is divided on Brexit. Labour voters are divided. Labour members are divided. Labour MPs are divided. Everyone knows this. But Jeremy Corbyn is the only leader to clarify what choice should be offered in a referendum – leave, supporting a deal negotiated by a Labour government, or remain and seek to reform from within.

Corbyn and Labour should be neutral in the referendum and encourage all members and MPs to campaign and vote according to their beliefs. There should be no cosmetic unity. Voters might respect honesty for a change.

David Thacker

Farnworth, Greater Manchester

• The country and the parties are split. We need to compromise. To keep a public vote on the table is the only sane choice. It’s not “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn”, it’s “Well done, Jeremy Corbyn”.

Kathleen O’Neill

Hayling Island, Hampshire

• Labour could save the country money: they could provide both government and opposition.

Peter Ransley

London

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