As the result of the referendum became clear, politicians who campaigned for remain conceded not only the vote but the argument. Yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn said he would not support a second referendum and effectively abandoned membership of the EU as a live political issue. In doing so, he also abandoned Scotland and any hope that the Labour party will form a government in the foreseeable future. As democratic deficits go, leaving 48% of voters without a voice is pretty significant. We are all being urged to accept the result. But I refuse to abandon a deeply held belief that it is better for the UK to be a part of the European Union, economically, politically and culturally.
I want to hear an articulate and informed critique of the alternatives before us. I want to hear politicians who will speak for me and 16 million others. I want a party that will look to Europe not simply as a business opportunity, but as a part of our heritage and our future.
Peter Martindale
Grantham, Lincolnshire
• I find it extraordinary that the response of the parliamentary Labour party is to attack Jeremy Corbyn instead of doing something constructive. Can’t they see that it is the PLP that needs to move in response to the electorate? Who will they choose as leader that will do better than Ed Miliband? The referendum vote was a cry of pain by Labour voters who have been callously left behind by globalisation. The PLP may think Corbyn is unelectable, but it has no credible alternative.
Chris Jeynes
Guildford, Surrey
• Jeremy Corbyn’s sacking of Hilary Benn well illustrates his political naivety. Corbyn must surely realise that after a year in office he really doesn’t make it as a credible leader. Neither can he pretend that his “remain” campaign was at all successful. He did his best but it wasn’t good enough, and he should resign. The PLP should allow a maximum of two candidates to present to the wider Labour party. It is vital that we have an opposition leader that might make a respected prime minister.
Tony Ward
Loughborough, Leicestershire
• I voted to leave the EU – an unaccountable, self-serving institution. The punitive reaction of some of the Brussels elite to the decision of the British people reinforces my view. But I did not vote for Johnson et al, against immigration or in favour of a neoliberal offshore tax haven. The constitutional train crash now unfolding offers a unique opportunity to build a fair settlement for the provinces south of Hadrian’s wall. To do that requires all progressive parties to form a coalition to force and win a general election, support Scotland and Ireland in choosing their own destinies, and introduce a proportional voting system in England and Wales. The Labour leader needs to seize this moment.
We also need maturity and patience from Brussels. Allusions to divorce and loveless marriage are not helpful. England and Wales can become a permissive and platonic partner to the US of Europe but it needs time to find itself.
Howard Watson
Scarborough, Yorkshire
• While I’ve dutifully signed the petition on the referendum result, this is a pointless and self-indulgent exercise. The only way to legitimate way to reverse the idiocy of 23 June is to have a general election. Labour must then take big and bravest action since Attlee’s government.
We must have a campaign fought on two issues, the retention of EU membership and the transition from austerity. This could join Labour, Greens, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems, even the SNP and liberal Tories, in explicit electoral pacts. There must be no preconditions around Scottish independence or proportional representation or anything else that diminishes the clarity of the issue. Clearly, this will be impossible for Labour to lead while Corbyn and his acolytes are in place. But we still have a very short period before the hatred, despair and fear behind the majority vote last week triumphs over the better nature of our country.
Malcolm Ace
Burley, Hampshire
• Polly Toynbee’s column (25 June) strikes an unacceptable tone. Not only did Corbyn campaign tirelessly to remain in the EU – while rightly admitting its shortcomings – but the note of personal invective actively contributes to the deterioration of the political climate.
Professor Geoffrey Greatrex
Ottawa, Canada
• In his report, Labour’s Future: Why Labour lost in 2015 and how it can win again, Jon Cruddas warned that the parliamentary Labour party was losing touch with its natural support in the country. The overwhelming sentiment in the PLP in favour of staying in the EU obliged Jeremy Corbyn, against his own reservations, to accept the arguments of the remain campaign. As we now know, his reservations reflected the party’s constituency very much more accurately than did the PLP. Now the PLP is moving against him, even though it is clear that he enjoys the support of a huge majority among the party membership.
W Stephen Gilbert
Corsham, Wiltshire
• The Blairite faction who are trying to unseat Jeremy Corbyn need to look up the dictionary definition of leader. It is not to do all the work yourself. It is not to make every speech and public appearance. A leader is a conductor, a director, a ringleader, a counsellor.
Labour’s priority should be to put together policies which are in the country’s interest and which resonate with Labour voters. Now is not the time for a leadership contest, Labour needs to put together a team to support Corbyn and gain the support of electorate.
Phil Tate
Edinburgh
• Corbyn’s critics seem to think that the working class in the north of England, and elderly voters everywhere, were so undecided about immigration that they would have been influenced by a strong Labour defence of the EU and the free movement of labour. Perhaps, but in which direction? Where euroscepticism is deeply ingrained, an enthusiastic endorsement of the EU by Labour would simply have led more of its traditional supporters to see it as out of touch.
John Stocks
Newport-on-Tay, Fife
• What is clear is that Jeremy Corbyn is not out of touch with Labour voters over the EU referendum. The shadow cabinet members and others pushing for remain were the ones out of touch.
Richard Bryant-Jefferies
Epsom, Surrey
• Once again a Benn is seeking to lead the Labour party into oblivion. Talk about hereditary privilege.
Colin Challen
Scarborough, Yorkshire
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