Democratic right to change your mind

Rory MacMahon
EUEU
EU

Sheffield, S10

In response to the letters published on january 28, attacking my letter calling for another referendum, I would like to begin by addressing a point that was made by Stephen Crowther and A Sheldon, both of whom raised the possibility of a referendum in the event that a People’s Vote were to take place with a Remain outcome.

One of the basic principles of democracy is that people should have the right to change their mind, an argument made six years ago by David Davis.

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Therefore, if Brexiteers were to want another referendum in the future, it would be their democratic right to argue for one, no matter the demographics.

In fact, ever since the 1975 EC referendum, hardline Brexiteers did exactly that until they got their wish in 2016, and I don’t imagine for one second that the vast majority of them would have taken any notice of the 2016 referendum result had it gone the other way.

Mr Farage stated shortly before the referendum that a narrow victory for Remain would be “unfinished business by a long way” .

Since last week, we have seen more evidence of criminality from the Leave. EU campaign, with Arron Banks’ company Eldon fined £120,000 for breaching electronic marketing laws, just one of the multiple criminal investigations into the aforementioned campaign group.

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I cannot help but feel that this is largely why so many Brexiteers are vehemently opposed to another public vote. People are now seeing through the criminal activity and the deceit that was involved with the Leave campaign.

I don’t think I have read a more factually incorrect summary of our membership of the EU than the one in David Martin’s letter. He has no evidence to back up his claims that the EU is bankrupt, bullying or corrupt.

The assertion that the EU wants to keep us for our money is also ridiculous.

The EU has funded some of the most left-behind regions of the UK, where our own government has failed to invest, including many areas of South Yorkshire.

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As for the claim that the European Court of Justice does not allow us to ‘get rid of extremists’, the European Arrest Warrant, which we will no longer be part of if we leave the EU, allows us and enables us to do exactly that.

EU citizens living in the UK contribute on average £2,300 more than the average British citizen, and are an enormous benefit to our economy.

Furthermore, EU law requires them to have a job before moving to the UK.

But I suppose these facts do not matter to you.