PLEASE keep your letters to 250 words maximum giving your name, address and daytime telephone number - even on emails. Email: letters@swindonadvertiser.co.uk. Write: Swindon Advertiser, 100 Victoria Road, Swindon, SN1 3BE. Phone: 01793 501806.

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

A response to UKIP

Some weeks ago I wrote a somewhat sarcastic letter about the thinly attended UKIP rally that Martin Costello claimed to have put a shot across the Government’s bows. In this letter I stated that neo-Nazis attended this rally.

In a reply on 19/09/17 Martin Costello said that I was being personal and stooping low to mention neo-Nazis. I would like to point out that I was not calling Martin a neo-Nazi, I do not consider Martin to be a neo-Nazi nor any other member of UKIP. I stated that neo-Nazis attended the rally and I hold to that.

Martin also said I might be interested to know that Green Party member Baroness Jenny Jones had sent her full support and apologies that she could not attend. I was not only interested, i was in fact surprised that she had. In fact she was surprised as she had done no such thing.

I contacted her office and her staff assured me no such support was offered nor apologies for not being able to attend, just a polite refusal. They sent the email correspondence showing this was the case.

At the recent Green Party conference I spoke to Jenny Jones and she told me she never responded to this type of request personally, as she would be quoted out of context or misquoted. She also said she would would never attend a rally organised by UKIP. Ms Jones further told me that although she had voted in favour of Brexit, she fully supported the Green Party position of holding a further referendum on the final deal with an option to remain.

Martin Costello wrote in his letter he wanted me “to let it go.” No wonder as his letter was full of terminological inexactitudes.

STEVE THOMPSON, Norman Road, Swindon

Second referendum

It is time to acknowledge that the historic mistake to leave the EU can and must be reversed. Whether we voted Remain or Leave, surely no one wanted Brexit to turn into the shambles it has?

I’ve tried to imagine alternative futures in a post-Brexit Britain, where we grow more of our own food, take control of the banks and stop corporations avoiding their taxes. But such a future while the Tories are in charge will remain fantasy. They are using Brexit as an opportunity for a power grab and Labour is as divided on Brexit as the Conservatives, failing to provide opposition on the dominant political issue of the day.

Many Conservative MEPs are horrified by what is happening. My counterpart in the South West, Julie Girling, voted as I did for a European Parliament resolution declaring insufficient progress has been made in the Brexit talks to warrant moving on to discussions about a future trading relationship.

Greens believe there must be a ratification referendum on the final Brexit deal, with remaining in the EU an option in this referendum. There is nothing undemocratic about this. We are asking for a choice between two real, possible futures.

MOLLY SCOTT CATO, MEP, Green, South West England, European Parliament, Brussels