Important words about Brexit

What a game-changer it will be when Keir Starmer gets up in the Commons and announces that Labour has decided that the best “Jobs Brexit” is “No Brexit”. Recent polling (Labour will win the next election if it becomes the party of remain, theguardian.com, 18 February) shows the majority of Labour members oppose Brexit and the majority of Labour voters do too.

Numerous independent and government reports have said that the effect on jobs and the economy from all Brexit options will be bad, with fruit growers already moving from Hereford to China. So, to change Labour’s stance from a hard-to-explain “Jobs Brexit” to an easily defendable “No Brexit” will be changing the policy as the facts change, with no loss of face. Brexit was mis-sold to the public and only Labour can halt Britain’s descent into chaos. It must join with other progressive parties across Europe and fight for Britain to remain and reform the EU. It’s also the only way Labour can win the election that must follow the collapse of talks or Theresa May’s fall from power.
Christopher Rainger
York

• Anand Menon (Is it possible to reverse Brexit?, theguardian.com, 16 February) analyses the possibility of a second referendum without saying what status the result would have. David Cameron made the status of the first referendum clear: “And ultimately it will be the judgment of the British people … You will have to judge what is best for you and your family, for your children and grandchildren, for our country, for our future. It will be your decision whether to remain in the EU … Your decision. Nobody else’s. Not politicians’. Not parliament’s. Not lobby groups’. Not mine. Just you. You, the British people, will decide. This is a huge decision for our country … And it will be the final decision … a once-in-a-generation choice. An in-or-out referendum. When the British people speak, their voice will be respected, not ignored. If we vote to leave, then we will leave. There will not be … another referendum. I say to those who are thinking about voting to leave – think very carefully, because this choice cannot be undone.”

What promises would be made before a second referendum?
Dr John Doherty
Vienna

• The EU membership referendum cut across party lines: leave voters were no more led by Nigel Farage than remain voters were led by George Osborne (Pity the Brexit 52%. They are led by cowards and charlatans, 20 February). It is a telling irony that commentators such as Rafael Behr are still incapable of viewing politics as anything other than a play of party leaders. If anyone “led” the leave voters I know (who voted to withdraw from what they saw as the bosses’ neoliberal project), it was Tony Benn; their “leader” now is Jeremy Corbyn; and the future is not the Tory Narnia winter of endless cuts and xenophobia assumed by so many despairing remainers.
Peter McKenna
Liverpool

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