John McDonnell “expects” parliament to reject the EU withdrawal agreement (Surprise as McDonnell steps up support for second referendum, 29 November). But that is because Labour has decided to oppose it. As someone who voted remain and for 50 years has usually voted Labour, I see this agreement, for all its flaws, as the best available compromise between remainers and leavers and thus as offering the best hope for Britain of ending the civil war over Brexit. It is also the best available compromise with the EU, which has made big concessions to the UK relative to its original negotiating position. It offers flexibility over the eventual terms of Britain’s relationship with the EU, and it comes as close as is realistically possible to meeting Keir Starmer’s six tests.
Labour’s leadership wants to defeat the agreement in parliament in order to force a general election. But this would be to repeat the crime of Cameron in calling the referendum, which was to put the interests of his party ahead of the interests of his country. I urge Labour supporters who could accept a soft Brexit to write to their MPs to press for a change in the party’s position or to defy its whip on 11 December.
Adrian Wood
Brighton
• As a retired teacher and A-level examiner, I am curious to know where the Brexit model sits as an examination sat by tens of millions of people. The pass mark was 50%, but unusually, the vast majority of preparation took place after the exam. I am not sure what the result would be with a second referendum, but I am certain the result would be much more meaningful and representative, as much more preparation and analysis would have been done by the vast majority of exam entrants. Why politicians would deny them the opportunity to revise and work on the syllabus, I do not know. I do know what would have happened to a member of my profession had an entrant been denied the learning process and revision before an exam.
Hugh Mortimer
Deal, Kent
• Sam Wollaston’s article on a day with Newlyn fishermen (24 November) is, indeed, as its title says “All at sea”. It says: “All the rules, about catches, quotas, discards, come from the European commission.” They don’t. The CFP’s overall control of catches has allowed fish stocks to recover from perilously low levels (not much point in having a quota if the sea is empty) and quotas are allocated between nations according to historic patterns of catches. The Newlyn skipper’s perception that he is denied a bigger quota comes only from UK government policies: it allows quotas to be traded, many are now the property of large companies, and many of those are in non-UK ownership. It is to Westminster, not Brussels, that the skipper in the piece should travel to try to change the policy: it is entirely for Defra to decide how it shares the nation’s catch between individuals like him and much bigger corporations. It won’t change should the UK leave the EU.
James Mackay
Warwick
• I agree with Peter Mandelson that Brexiters imagine a “magic kingdom” with which we can make trade deals (On May’s deal Trump is, for once, talking perfect sense, 28 November). This magic kingdom is very far away. Mandelson fails to use one of the most powerful arguments for staying attached to the EU – the environmental cost of moving people and goods between the UK and continents much further away. Even if Brexit secretary Dominic Raab does not know it, much off our trade with the EU is by rail through the channel tunnel.
Sarah Benton
London
• We hear that your politicians are flirting with a Norwegian model. It’s complicated, just ask the Norwegian PM. May I suggest flirting with a Danish model instead? Denmark voted no to the EU in 1992 (51% to 49%). Afterwards, Danish politicians figured out what (they thought) the Danes didn’t like and we voted again, now with four Danish exceptions. Ten per cent changed their mind and we stayed with you. Astonishingly, Jeremy Corbyn asked last week what to vote on in a second referendum. Although you already have most of our exceptions, we’d gladly give you one of ours if it makes you change your mind.
Mikkel HansenLab
Copenhagen, Denmark
• I agree with Miriam González Durántez about Theresa May’s offensive rhetoric (May has added insult to the injury of Brexit, 29 November). However, it is not just non-British EU residents who are offended by May’s jibe about “citizens of nowhere”. It was aimed just as much at British remain voters, for having the temerity to try to protect their EU citizenship rights. Having insulted us, May now has the gall to urge people to come together: she is matchless in her combination of bigotry, divisiveness and sheer political incompetence.
Anthony Ferner
Leamington Spa
• Miriam González Durántez echoed my sentiments as a European living in France for 25 years. The feeling of not quite belonging anywhere is manifested even more as we have no vote, not in the UK nor in France. She, however, is still able to vote in Spain.
Jill Watts-Jones
St-Genest-d’Ambiere, France
• I agree with the points González Durántez wants to make to Cameron about Brexit. Perhaps she could direct them at her husband. Without Nick Clegg’s unforgivable support in a coalition, it is unlikely he’d have been in power.
Bob Hughes
Willoughby, Warwickshire
• In 1935, my father travelled from Cyprus to England working his passage as a coffee boy on the ship. He travelled on his British passport. On arriving in west London he went to Gillette to ask about becoming an engineer. He was told that they only took British boys and to go and be a waiter like the rest of the Greeks! He did just that and had a fabulous career in the West End. When he retired he was the maître d’ at the Ritz Casino and the name Mr Tony was well known. He married an English woman and had three children: one is a well-respected architect, one a skilled hairdresser, and I was a specialist HIV nurse working in the NHS for over 40 years. Remember, Mrs May (Letters, 22 November), even “queue jumpers” provide good service and make Britain richer with their presence.
Christina Green
Whitton, Middlesex
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