Dilemmas posed by Lib Dem vow to exit Brexit without referendum

The Liberal Democrats’ new referendum bypass policy to stop Brexit is clearly a tactical error, as identified by Polly Toynbee (Swinson’s move to revoke hands Labour a golden opportunity, 17 September). It also has the greater significance of sinking their claim to the moral high ground on EU policy, already flawed by their failure to acknowledge their role in generating the current mess (and indeed their responsibility for austerity).

It was, after all, not David Cameron but acting Lib Dem leader Vince Cable, who, as early as 2007, proposed amending the Queen’s speech to incorporate an in/out EU referendum, stating that “we trust the people to make a decision about whether we should stay in or get out”, a position subsequently reinforced by Nick Clegg. After the 2016 referendum, Cable thought a second one would be “disrespectful”. By the 2017 general election, Lib Dem policy had evolved to giving the people the final say on a negotiated deal, remarkably similar to Labour’s position today.

Toynbee calls for Labour to back an immediate referendum, but this makes it difficult to avoid including an irresponsible no-deal option, which could be ruled out by achieving an anti-Tory majority in a general election.Jo Swinson should drop her opposition to cooperating with Labour and work towards a post-election referendum in which, rather than dismissing 17.4 million leave voters, she will have ample opportunity to persuade an overall majority to vote to remain in the EU.
Dr Anthony Isaacs
London

• After the Lib Dems’ pledge to revoke Brexit without a referendum I find myself politically homeless. A passionate remainer, I would struggle to vote for a party that has betrayed its own liberal principles. The first-past-the-post electoral system (which the Lib Dems have pledged to replace) means that majority governments very rarely represent a majority of the electorate. For this reason – and for many other reasons – no general election can or should serve as a referendum on membership of the EU. An “unlikely” Lib Dem majority in the House of Commons would not give a mandate to overturn the 2016 referendum. We have to find a different way out of the Brexit nightmare.
Sarah Lornie
Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex

• Fair enough for Polly Toynbee to criticise what she considers a Lib Dem blunder and an opportunity for Labour. But to label continuing to do what we’ve been doing since 1973 as “extreme” seems rather harsh. And to describe it as “to hell with the will of the people” when 28 out of the last 30 polls show a clear majority for staying in the EU over leaving seems rather like falling for Tory rhetoric.
Mark Walford
London

• You write that the Liberal Democrats’ promise to revoke article 50 lacks a democratic mandate (Editorial, 17 September). But a mandate is precisely what they would have, were they to win a parliamentary majority. The comparison with the SNP and a Scottish independence referendum is specious; severing the union will require an act of the Westminster parliament, which the SNP cannot hope to control. The Liberal Democrats’ policy offers a welcome return to representative democracy, and an end to the mania for referenda. Let the people decide, yes, but in a general election.
Christopher Fryer
London

• “The Lib Dems … home to Keynes and Beveridge?” No, I don’t think so. The Liberal Democrats party came into existence in 1989. Its only taste of power since then would have Keynes and Beveridge turning in their graves.
Colin Challen
Scarborough

• The Lib Dems are often stereotyped as wishy-washy fence-sitters, but we have been consistent as the pro-remain party from the beginning. Everyone knows that. If we came to power on that manifesto it would be a clear mandate to put an end to Brexit by revoking article 50.
Stephanie Bailey
Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset

• Seeing my suggestions for Labour (Letters, 10 September) – general election, no referendum, back remain – cynically taken over by the Liberal Democrats, I think I prefer Labour’s honest “muddle” after all!
Tim Oelman
London

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