Like many convinced Europeans, I was shocked and angered by last week’s result and spent the weekend considering how it could be blocked or reversed but now accept that this would neither be right nor constructive. However, while it is clear that a majority voted against membership of the EU, there is absolutely no clarity on what they have actually voted for. It is now important that detailed and practical options are developed and negotiated with our European partners in accordance with article 50 and that our political parties incorporate their preferred approaches into coherent manifestos that can be properly debated and scrutinised in a general election campaign. The duly elected government may then have a clear mandate to pass the necessary legislation to finalise Brexit by repealing the European Communities Act 1972 and passing new laws to replace it. Article 50 merely starts this process and cannot commit the UK irrevocably any more than placing a deposit on a house commits a buyer to purchase before they have obtained a surveyor’s report. During this time our political parties and all parts of civil society must seek to repair the deep divides in our country that the referendum has exposed.
Ian Bretman
London
• Larry Elliott (27 June) tells us, I think quite rightly, that the EU has failed in its central objective; but the job that it was set up to do still needs doing. The people of this country have, by a narrow margin, advised politicians that they don’t like the EU as it currently is. Because of an acceptance that there are some decisions about which the public could not possibly be well-informed, particularly when they have been consistently lied to, I suggest that we delay the invoking of article 50 for a year, and use that time in serious negotiations to provoke the EU into restructuring itself, so that it can actually address the issue of ensuring the wellbeing of its peoples in the face of predatory globalisation.
Barrie Dale
Wantage, Oxfordshire
• Triggering article 50 would weaken Britain’s negotiating position, and make the process of exit irreversible. Despite threats from the EU 27 it is unimaginable the EU institutions would refuse to negotiate before article 50 is triggered as Britain has the ability to arrest any reforms through use of its veto. As it stands leave voters have chosen a deal that doesn’t exist, and it is vital to our democracy and the future of the country that everyone can make an informed decision.As well as arguing to postpone the activation of article 50 until a deal is clear, remain supporters need to reconnect with leave voters and understand and learn from each other’s differences.
Jake Cassels
London
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• The letter above from Barrie Dale was amended on 28 June 2016. Because of an editing error, an earlier version said “there are some decisions about which the public could not possibly be not well-informed”.
