After trying to deport innocent people and then convicting those who tried to save them, the British state should be ashamed

The disgraceful conviction of the “Stansted 15” on terrorism-related charges because they peacefully stopped a Boeing 767 from taking off and forcibly repatriating people to Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone where their lives were at risk shows, once again, that the term “British justice” is an oxymoron.

The British state shamed itself in trying to deport innocent people. It has doubled its shame in convicting the Stansted 15.

Sasha Simic
London

Kicking the can down the road isn’t good enough

So today, the prime minister has found a way of delaying the inevitable. She wants us to believe that the only reason people find her deal unacceptable is the NI backstop. So she’s going to get “more reassurances” (if she can) that presumably still won’t be legally binding and then she’ll schedule a vote in the House of Commons.

I say enough delaying. Bring the issue to a vote or get out of the way. I could fill the entirety of your pages with all the issues I have heard, so this step today is yet another exercise in can kicking. The time has come for the PM to put up or shut up, and for us as a nation to be able to move forward.

Steve Mumby​
Bournemouth

The people demand a Final Say

In only two of 650 constituencies is there a majority in favour of May’s Brexit plan. You also report that in more than 600 there is a majority now in favour of remaining in the EU. On Sunday your headline was that across the country there is now a majority in favour of remaining in the EU. This is surely the will of the people.

If MPs now vote, whenever that may be, other than in line with that position then they will not be representing their constituents. And if May is so intent on following the will of the people, then she must recognise the current position and stop tying herself to a vote from 2016 which was informed in outline only and is long superseded by events. To do anything else will certainly not heal the divisions which she and her fellow politicians have created and nurtured for their own ends. The mechanisms are there, she just needs to see them and use them.

Charles Wood
Birmingham

Tories, I implore you. Get May out!

I’m sure I am not alone in my frustration at the cancellation of Tuesday’s parliamentary vote on the PM’s Brexit deal.

How much longer must we endure this pretence that she is acting in the best interest of this country? Her only objective for the last two years has been to say or do whatever it takes to keep her job, to keep the puppeteers pulling her strings and to be remembered as the PM who negotiated Brexit. I think the vast majority would agree she has shown nothing but incompetence in her ability to negotiate a deal likely to be backed by parliament and her ability to lead her party.

After stating on numerous occasions her deal was the only deal and the best deal possible, reiterated by the EU, to cancel the vote at the 11th hour in fear of defeat and the possibility of a no confidence vote, again putting herself before the country is nothing short of cowardice!

In her actions today she has personally created more indefinite uncertainty in not setting a date for the vote to take place, once again devaluing the pound, but most importantly for her ensuring she drags out her occupancy of Number 10 to the detriment of a nation. If her deal is the best and only deal available she is just delaying the inevitable which benefits no one but herself.

I fail to comprehend why so many of her own party are happy to publicly criticise her and her deal but are not prepared to send their letters of no confidence, trigger a leadership contest and back one of their own to be a more competent leader. It seems however that whilst they are happy to criticise their leader none of them have the courage step up to the mark either. The PM isn’t the only Tory guilty of cowardice.

There are too many major domestic issues which need urgent attention for this nonsense. The PM is putting herself first, her party remaining in power second and the best interests of the country third.

Come on Tories, find some courage, get your no confidence letters in, get a new leader in Number 10 and get them over to Brussels. Improve on the deal as much as possible, get the parliamentary vote arranged and prepare yourselves for both outcomes. If the deal is voted for then get on with it. If voted against we now know what the options are, let’s take the next step. Dithering towards 29 March is not an option, certainly not one in the best interests of the country in any case!

Phil Kent
Upton

Does London even need Crossrail?

Crossrail has cost £15.4bn so far, it still isn’t finished and apparently it now needs another £1.7bn to finish it off. A significant amount of this money comes from the taxpayer.

It doesn’t benefit me here in Leicester at all!

Fifteen point four billion quid, so that London can go at a more manic pace than it does already?! I honestly don’t get it.

Imagine what that amount of money could have done to benefit other areas in the UK?

Chris Bonfield
Address supplied

Maybe it’s MPs, not the electorate, who aren’t enlightened enough?

Michael Gove accuses Remainers of claiming the public was “too dim” to make the right decision in 2016. Seems to me the prime minister thinks MPs are too dim to decide if her deal is good enough, so they will be asked again after her fruitless visit to Brussels, in the hope they come up with the right answer this time!

G Forward
Stirling