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Bercow has shown up Brexit for the farce that it is – I’ll be marching on Saturday for a Final Say

I confess I was relieved when Commons speaker John Bercow issued his ruling on whether the prime minister could keep on bringing the same deal back to the table. The sheer hypocrisy of her actions is breathtaking: why should she be allowed, in the name of democracy to keep bringing the same deal back to the table when it is deemed “undemocratic” for there to be a second vote on Brexit?

A Tory Brexiteer appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning acting like a sulky schoolboy because Mr Bercow was “destroying Brexit” by following parliamentary rules. He had the audacity to say that MPs had changed their minds and would now back the Brexit deal as this was better than no Brexit, so they deserved another vote. He was angry about the fact that they were being denied the right to change their minds and vote for it now, even though the PM made it clear what would happen next if they voted against her amended deal.

It really does beggar belief that they cannot see how hypocritical they are being by voting against a second referendum because we’ve apparently decided and they need to act on the “will of the people”, and even based on a full understanding of the facts presented to them they have the right to keep changing their minds.

Roll on Saturday – I will be marching in London demanding a people’s vote on this ongoing Brexit fiasco.

Louise Hemmingsley
Willesborough, Kent

We’ve not got a meaningful vote, but on Saturday there will be a very meaningful march.

Patrick Cosgrove
Bucknell, Shropshire

No limit to how low this wretched government will sink

It is not John Bercow who has caused a constitutional crisis – in fact, he is restoring constitutional normality. Erskine May is quite clear on the issue of repeat votes: the reason it has not been invoked for 99 years is that previous governments have not sought to flout the rules.

Isn’t it strange that the prime minister believes the will of parliament can change in the space of a week yet the will of the people was set in stone three years ago? Sir Graham Brady tells us that the deal is gaining support and needs another vote but ignores completely the fact that remaining in the EU is gaining support amongst the public and also needs another vote. One vote for the people, three votes for the government: hardly fair and democratic, is it?

Ms May could easily bring her deal back to parliament by using the principle of the Kyle/Wilson amendment and linking it to a public referendum. Alternatively the prime minister could negotiate an extension of Article 50 and bring her deal back when the new session of parliament begins after the spring recess.

This constitutional crisis has been caused entirely because a minority government obsessed by Brexit has ploughed ahead without further reference to either the general public or the other parties in parliament. The suggestion by the solicitor general Robert Buckland that parliament could be prorogued and reopened in order to hold another vote within days merely illustrates that there is no limit to the depths to which this wretched government is prepared to sink.

Peter Herridge
Bristol

Why are frontline NHS staff being cut?

Like many others, people who are very dear to me are being directly affected by cuts in the NHS. In the past few days, the three already over-stretched specialist nurses attached to the interstitial lung disease unit at Southmead Hospital in Bristol are being reduced to one. This has to stop.

So many NHS staff battle with constantly diminishing resources and morale, devote their working lives to the healthcare of others and, in addition, fundraise. The NHS’s insatiable need for more money is continually reported.

Forgive me, but I have to ask how the funds they do have are managed.

Are the concerns I have heard over the “best-value” procurement of equipment and drugs unfounded? An example I have been told on more than one occasion was the cost of scalpels supplied being 10 times that which could be bought from a different supplier for an identical product. Is this, or similar, true?

The NHS appears very top-heavy. While so many frontline medical staff are sacrificed, it appears that non-medical staff, managers and board members continue in abundance.

While I appreciate the NHS finances are very complex, daily decisions affecting us and our families are reached with regard to a budget.

I am asking for assistance and explanations please, from someone who

1) is not a politician

2) has integrity

3) has cast-iron knowledge of NHS finance policies, budgets and supporting information.

I appreciate that in striving for clarity, my letter is both simplistic and naive. I just need to try and understand, and hopefully debunk the above points, and others. I cannot stand by and witness people most dear to me suffer more than they absolutely have to, because the books don’t balance.

J Tucker
Address supplied

A lack of leadership

We get Theresa May and her band of goons. New Zealand gets Jacinda Ardern.

Philip Ireland
Winchester

A solution for the backstop

I have a simple and effective resolution that would be almost guaranteed to solve the backstop impasse in the withdrawal agreement.

Some MPs will and some MPs won’t support another full referendum on Brexit, understandable in some respects, but perhaps if a binding referendum on the backstop alone was to be held in Northern Ireland only – a simple decision between accepting the backstop or rejecting it – then perhaps we can move on.

If an addendum was made to the withdrawal agreement to say that the backstop would be subject to a people’s vote (referendum) in Northern Ireland prior to ratification of the overall withdrawal agreement, then the Commons speaker would also probably accept that this was a sufficient change to allow another meaningful vote in parliament at some point.

Let the people of Northern Ireland have the final say on the backstop: after all, they are the ones mostly affected by it. It’s the only way to satisfy everyone. Surely if the full logistical capabilities of the United Kingdom were to be made available, a relatively small referendum could be held within a short timescale. This would probably also satisfy the EU in relation to a short extension of Article 50, as there is a reason for the extension.

Simple, job done.

Robert Greasley
Germany