BREXIT: Ignore vote at your peril

OK, I admit it, I'm a long time Conservative activist and was a North East leader of Vote Leave, but also a keen European, and yet not a fan of the EU.

My experience of years of canvassing and listening to voters, especially during the referendum, informs me that the overwhelming majority of Brexit voters believed passionately in Britain controlling its own destiny.

It’s also true that many were sick of being ignored by a Brussels-supporting elite.

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The vast rump of Remain voters I spoke to thought it was safer economically to stay in the EU, much as they disagreed with the way in which it operated. They bought into the whole financial Armageddon scenario if we voted out.

Five months later and Britain is doing better than ever, which is hardly surprising since the majority of us got what we wanted.

And yet a small clique has won a court victory to push Parliament to vote on the invocation of Article 50 to trigger Brexit process. We fought the battle to ensure that Parliament regained its integrity and authority so why should we be afraid of giving it a vote?

My advice to Theresa May is simple. Forget legal appeals and let Parliament have its vote. I would, however, remind MPs of the outcome of the referendum and make plans to have an election if they vote against triggering Brexit. This is not a debate, we’ve already had that, but an endorsement or a suicide note.

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I strongly suspect that many Remainers will have a different view now, whilst Brexiters feel vindicated.

I also predict that MPs who vote against the outcome of the referendum will find themselves out of a job after an election, be they Labour, Tory, LibDem or otherwise. It’ll be a Tory landslide.

It may be that in future years the most dire political warning about going against the will of the people will be “remember the Liberal Democrats”. To which the response will be “who?” Precisely.

Aidan Ruff,

Alnwick