The house is divided, just as the electorate is. A Final Say is therefore not the answer

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Your editorial yesterday made some interesting points. I certainly agree with the logic that Theresa May must be able to see that her firing squad is being assembled, and realise that her replacement is likely to be an extreme Brexiteer, since there is simply no potential for a sensible agreement within the Commons or the EU for an acceptable way forward and Britain will crash out under WTO rules. It is clear that May fully understands the dangers of this outcome, therefore she must see the very great logic in writing a letter to rescind Article 50 while she is still in office.

However, it is at this point that I part company with you. The second option (taking the matter back to the people) shows little logic or potential. May has repeatedly said she has no intention of doing so, and there is little sign that Jeremy Corbyn will somehow force her hand, since he clearly does not want to either. The prospect of May’s replacement having a different view seems unlikely in the extreme.

Nonetheless, assuming there was a will within the prime minister and cabinet to support a people’s vote, your suggestion that several different options should be listed on the ballot paper runs into the difficulty that these options would need to find enough support within parliament to ensure that, if there was a clear winner in the referendum, the house would be willing to push it through. There is no sign currently that this is so.

Moreover, since the house is so completely divided that it cannot find a solution, it is difficult to imagine the electorate would be any less divided. Are we to return to the concept that a single vote difference in a referendum can determine Britain’s future? Surely not.

The final analysis then is clear. If, as a newspaper, you support Britain remaining a full member of the EU, then the campaign to rescind Article 50 must now occupy all your energies.

David Curran
Feltham, Middlesex

A whole new world

I used to read Tom Peck primarily for entertainment and his great sense of parody.

Now I read his articles to get the best possible understanding of what is really happening and what is going to happen.

His latest “analysis”, that absolutely nothing will happen in the next six months and the government will be back begging for a further extension, is a stick-on certainty.

Hugh Currie
Glasgow

I watch through my fingers

It is to be hoped that the ridicule in which the United Kingdom is being held by many around the world is not increased by politically immature nationalists hijacking the European parliament with jingoistic and xenophobic sentiments and activities. If we are to risk economic and political uncertainly through the isolationist stance of Brexit, let us at least hope we can do it with some dignity.

Matt Minshall​
Norfolk

Making profit from misery

In your leader, you state that Nigel Farage “apparently genuinely believes that a no-deal Brexit is the best option for the UK”.

I believe that, contrary to this, what Farage and the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg genuinely believe is that a disorderly, hard or no-deal Brexit will cause turmoil in the financial markets, from which they and their friends in the City can make significant profit.

The best option for the UK probably never crosses their minds.

Stephen Marr
Broughton

One day many moons ago

Putting the “fear of God” into MPs who have “betrayed the voters over Brexit” reminds one that 50 years ago Ralph Miliband warned about “would-be popular saviours whose extreme conservatism is carefully concealed beneath a demagogic rhetoric of national renewal and social redemption, garnished with an appeal to racial and any other popular prejudice”. Was there ever Farage the “Mr Nice Guy”?

Mike Bor
London W2

Finally a positive step for the sand martins

The massive outrage at the sight of sand martins clinging to the nets that were preventing them from entering their habitual nesting sites made global news. Far from ensuring that animal and bird habitats were not affected, North Norfolk Council appears to have ignored the advice of the RSPB. Thankfully, those nets are now being removed. The important work to safeguard the cliffs from erosion will still go ahead, but so will the natural breeding cycle of a beautiful harbinger of spring.

Susan Ringwood
Norfolk