Letters: November 10, 2016

Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Half-truths and lies

DES Morgan (Legal wrangle over EU, November 8) should not pay too close attention to what David Cameron said before the EU referendum.

In the lead-up to the referendum there were lots of half-truths and outright lies from many politicians.

The Bill for the referendum from December 2015 that Des refers to is, however, perfectly clear that the referendum “does not contain any requirement for the UK Government to implement the results of the referendum, nor set a time limit by which a vote to leave the EU should be implemented. Instead, this is a type of referendum known as pre-legislative or consultative, which enables the electorate to voice an opinion which then influences the Government in its policy decisions”.

David Cameron called the referendum as a monumental gamble to solve internal Party issues.

I agree with Jeremy Paxman who said recently “what Cameron did was to put the interests of his Party above the interests of his country and that seems to me to be well-nigh unforgivable.”

It was a gamble he did not expect to lose, hence why the Government is left with no plan for Brexit, leaving us all now facing years of uncertainty and chaos.

Des argues that the people know better than their representatives in this matter.

The drip feed of misinformation about the EU by the tabloid press over the last couple of decades means that this is far from true.

I would challenge him to name one law created by the EU that has a detrimental impact on his life.

We live in a representative democracy (far from perfect, but centuries old and respected worldwide) and this means that we trust our elected representatives to makes decisions on our behalf.

Therefore, it is essential that MPs get to vote on Article 50 and that it is not left solely in the hands of a Prime Minister who has not even won an election.

NEIL MERCER

Maidstone Road

Swindon

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Both houses approved

BOTH Houses of Parliament approved the Referendum 2015 Referendum Bill which clearly stated that it was a simple majority decision of us “leaving the EU or remaining in the EU”.

There was no mention about Parliament then approving or disproving the result in a debate about triggering Article 50 which had to take place if the result was a leave vote.

So why Theresa May decided to wait until next year to do so is baffling. Especially when a number of senior EU Nations were worried about their own General Elections which would have given us an advantage in our negotiations with them about trading.

But what did Theresa do at the referendum? Sit on the fence and leave David Cameron to “negotiate” a good deal with Angela Merkel.

I suggest that she sends Nigel this time to ruffle a few feathers among his bureaucratic friends in Brussels.

These friends also compare very favourably with our unelected members of the House of Lords who, in reality, are the third chamber of the EU Parliament.

IAN HUNT

Hill View Road

Swindon

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Power is still with EU

THOSE who take pleasure from the High Court decision regarding the delay to invoking Article 50 have forgotten that the UK is still a member of the EU.

The three judges are requiring that the Westminster Parliament should first vote on the Article 50 proposal.

The Commission of the EU takes precedence over Westminster decisions until Britain finally leaves the EU.

The President of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker stated soon after the referendum that he wished Britain to invoke Article 50 as soon as possible.

Any decision made by the Westminster Parliament is totally irrelevant at the present time because all the power currently lies with the EU Commission.

NOEL GARDNER

Carlisle Avenue

Swindon

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Act should be clear

JOHN Stooke makes a very valid point with regard to the need to understand the purely legalistic position taken by the judges of the Appeal Court with regard to Brexit (SA November 8).

John cites the fact that the 1972 Act which took us in to the Common Market as it was called, gave us ‘rights’ and those rights can only be taken away by another Act of Parliament.

I don’t think John will find many people disagreeing with his view and I include the Prime Minister in that group.

After all she has made it quite clear that she intends to present a Great Repeal Act to the House Of Commons which will be the vehicle by which Parliament decides which laws to keep and which to reject or amend.

The matter of invoking Article 50 should be quite straightforward as the people have indicated their view by a majority vote in a referendum authorised by an Act Of Parliament which made clear the mechanism which would be used to notify the EU of the UK’s intention.

DES MORGAN

Caraway Drive

Swindon

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Spanner in the works

THE latest saga in the Brexit fiasco sees three High Court judges put another spanner in the works of an already worldwide embarrassment of our country.

We have the confused Conservative Party, the laughable Labour Party, the UKIP in-house fighting Party and the Liberals? Well, I’m not even sure they’re still in existence.

Move up to Scotland and there you have the “we’ll have an independence referendum until we get what we want” Party.

Each and every political party is responsible for turning this country into a laughing stock.

Being a Brexit voter I am now wondering if there is anybody in our political establishment capable of overseeing Brexit and whether or not we should just accept their ineptness and knock Brexit on its head.

KELLY COLLINS

Lyndhurst Crescent

Swindon

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Not council’s fault

RE THE letter Council must act - SA November 8 - I am mildly surprised, no greatly surprised at the lack of awareness some people have of Swindon and the expectation that the council should/must jump in and intervene in every instance.

Kelly Collins bemoans the loss of two shops ‘leaving’ the centre of Swindon and blames the council.

Yes, the two shops have left the centre of Swindon but for two completely different reasons.

Soletrader has moved to the Outlet Centre.

But Cargo, a chain of 43 stores in London and the south east, ‘merged with Bensons For Beds and would continue as an as an online presence’ is their epitaph, if Googled.

The Swindon store was probably one of the last couple of stores to close down.

However, to call Swindon ‘such a small town, is laughable.

Swindon is one of the largest towns in this country, there are a number of cities within striking distance of Swindon that are smaller, Bath, Gloucester, Oxford and Salisbury to name but four. So let’s hear it for Swindon.

HENRY SMITH

Peatmoor

West Swindon

Swindon