Thame resident challenges MP in open letter

MANY people from Thame and the surrounding villages would have read the constituency’s MP, John Howell’s article in the local press or read his latest news letter on his website, expressing his opposition to a People’s Vote. A Thame resident, himself a supporter of a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal, has now written an open letter to John Howell:

Dear Dr Howell

I have just read your InTouch Newsletter, and believe it needs an immediate and open response, since it will have been seen by a large number of your constituents who may be misled by it.

I can understand, as a UK representative to it, you would hold a high opinion of the Council of Europe, but to dismiss the real role that the EU has had in supporting the democracies that replaced the dictatorships in Europe is surely incorrect. It was the EU (and its previous incarnations as the EEC & EC) that provided the prosperity that enabled the fledgling democracies of Greece, Portugal & Spain to flourish. Human Rights organisations such as the Council of Europe are worthwhile institutions, but they don’t hold much traction with dictators, and to claim that it is the Council of Europe that has enabled us to live in peace and prosperity is preposterous. While you might berate him for not mentioning the Council of Europe, to describe Guy Verhofstadt’s speech as “fundamentally incorrect” is not appropriate.

Your section on Brexit is a perfect example of why 82% of respondents are fed up with politicians claiming to speak for everyone. You regularly cite occasional conversations in the street as signalling widespread support for your position on Brexit, without actually saying what was said. You now seem to be holding up this latest ORB poll as further support. This poll says that 35% of Leave voters hadn’t fully considered the complexity of what they voted for, while 30% would support a “no-deal” Brexit. This nearly 1 in 3 of respondents are still not considering the complexities (and costs) of what they are asking for.

Roy Mottram

Nearly 1 in 3 respondents being happy to crash out of the EU without a deal is an indictment of our press and politicians, yourself included. You have failed to highlight the lies that were told by the Leave campaign, pushing a (false) equivalence argument that “both sides lied” (without any evidence). Your latest newsletter does nothing to try to explain to that nearly 1 in 3 that the government “technical notices” are for real, and not just some extension of “Project Fear”. This government has had over two years to produce a realistic plan, and they have failed. There is now little “time & space” left – just what have they been doing? Perhaps their failure to produce a realistic plan is because as soon as it is written down it will be shown to deliver no benefits.

You say “This is neither the time for rushing around crying betrayal or for trying to frustrate the decision of the referendum.” I agree. It’s the time to finalise the Withdrawal Agreement, and produce as detailed a plan as possible for the future relationship. Having done that, it will be the time to seek a mandate to continue with the process, because it’s clear that the 2016 referendum was unsafe and provides no such mandate.

Anybody who believes that a Peoples Vote would undermine the result of the 2016 referendum must also believe that leaving the EU is no longer “the will of the people”. For any government to continue on such a course, believing that the electorate did not wish it to do so, would surely be undemocratic.

As my MP, I would ask you to support any vote in Parliament that requires the Withdrawal Agreement and proposal for the future relationship with the EU to be put to a Peoples Vote for ratification. I note that there is the second reading of a private members bill to that effect on October 26, and I ask you to both contribute to the debate and vote for the bill.

Sincerely
Roy Motteram
Thame
(full address supplied)