So a deal is done, and pro-EU advocates must accept we’ve left. The question for us is, what next? We can’t just mourn what we’ve lost, nor expect this government to take into account our views, our damage and sadness – it hasn’t done so thus far. There’s still a case to be made for close cooperation not only for the national interest but also to promote a deeper understanding among Britons of our common European future.
Whether the UK government helps or not, we as citizens and civil society must explore how to maintain cross-border connectivity politically, culturally, economically and socially for the sake of our industries, sectors, cities and communities. This is especially true for the next generation, who need access to other perspectives through European exchanges and educational projects. Brexit, if nothing else, marked a failure of imagination. We owe it to our youth to continue to expand our horizons and refuse to allow the Brexit project to dictate the kind of people we are and the lives we want to lead as both Britons and Europeans.
Sandra Khadhouri
London
• So the European Research Group is to reconvene the “star chamber” to scrutinise the Brexit deal (Brexit trade and security deal with EU within ‘touching distance’, says No 10, 24 December). As any halfway decent A-level student of the period will know, the star chamber was one of two courts abolished by parliament during the civil war because it overrode rights established in common law, operating as it did on Roman law principles.
This misunderstanding of English history is typical of the ERG and, alongside the alpha-male rhetoric employed in the use of the term, is in no small part responsible for leading the country into the mess it finds itself in today.
Prof Bill Sheils
York
• Don’t you just love the word “deal”? It smacks of some hand-spitting, shady arrangement undertaken in haste at night, about dodgy cars, poached game and fish, contaminated meat, poisoned fruit and vegetables and false promises about getting rich quick. What happened to “treaty”, “agreement”, “contract”, “accord”, “alliance”, all of which suggest fairness, honour, good value and long-term solidarity? Je me souviens de l’entente cordiale.
Will Scott
Worcester
• If facts really are sacred, please can your writers be more careful? It is wrong to say “52% of the public support[ed] Brexit” in 2016 (From Cameron’s call to the Brexit deal: key events in the UK’s departure, 24 December). Of the people who voted in the referendum, 52% were in favour of leaving. That was 37% of the electorate and so an even smaller percentage of the public. We need to remember that this enormous act of self-harm to this country, admittedly caused by politicians, was agreed to by about a third of the adults who live in it.
Stephen Lawrence
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Can I be one of the first to congratulate our prime minister on his great success in negotiating a last-minute agreement that is so wonderful for our nation, despite the antics of those perfidious Europeans? He should take no notice of those doubters who may claim that this was all planned long ago so that critics are otherwise occupied. And remember, when he said that, health-wise, all would be back to normal by Christmas, he didn’t say which Christmas.
Roger Foreman
Gobowen, Shropshire
