Is a second referendum on the EU really what Britain needs?

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

If a referendum were to be held at all it should have required at least a two thirds majority (EPA)

Referendums have always been alien to Britain’s representative parliamentary democracy. It may be a flawed system, but we choose MPs to make decisions for us, and we use each election to throw out the party in power if things have not gone well.

Any criticism of this system may be justified, but referendums are a gift for demagogues and prey to passing populist whims.

We’ve already seen it happening. David Cameron should never have had a referendum in the first place, not least just as a device to gag the Eurosceptics within the Tory Party. After the Scottish independence referendum, I’m sure he thought he would walk an EU membership vote, and he made little effort to persuade the electorate of the enormous economic, social and cultural benefits that the UK had enjoyed within the EU.