The Brexit campaign has given encouragment to the nastiest, most extreme racists

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(Twitter/@howgilb)

So it's already beginning: the disgusting notes through Polish doors, racist abuse from drunken thugs on a tram in Manchester and attacks on Spanish and Turkish restaurants in London. I find it abhorrent, inhuman and frightening. Farage and his ilk have a lot to answer for, since in lifting up several nasty stones, he has unleashed a torrent of anti-foreigner, racist hatred he is powerless to control – even if he wanted to.

I fear for what happens when the Ukip-ultras find that immigration has not been abolished overnight – that there are still Indian, Vietnamese and Italian restaurants in our inner cities and we are still being treated by Asian, Arabic or Czech doctors. Who will they blame then ? When they find that no mainstream democratic party speaks for to their extreme xenophobia and neo-fascism ?

I fear the resurgence of the far-right in a more virulent and more organised form. Many Brexiteers will throw up their hands in horror, but they will fail to see they brought it on themselves by making respectable the demonising of the foreigner in their disparate, atavistic yearning for the England they profess to love.

Martin Niemöller said it all over 70 years ago:

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me."

Derek Watts
Lewes

Stop the abuse of Polish people

I would like to take by the scruff of the neck anyone who has abused Polish people living and working here. I would drag them to the Battle of Britain Monument on Victoria Embankment in London, making them read the long list of Polish names of airmen who were killed in this decisive battle for our survival

When we lived in Lincolnshire, my husband served on Vulcan squadrons. On remembrance services in Lincoln Cathedral, large Polish contingents who had settled here marched proudly behind their banners and flags as they remembered their fallen comrades.

Polish people are part of our history just like the French Huguenots, Irish navvies, Hungarian refugees, West Indians, Kenyan, Asians and others from foreign parts who have come to this country and who contribute to our society. They all add to the diversity and richness of our lives. The Poles who are here pay their taxes and add to the economy. We should rejoice that they are here.

Diane Hughes
Sidmouth

Ukip could capitalise on Labour’s failings in England as the SNP did in Scotland

Watching the current Labour Party crisis is like witnessing a car crash in slow motion. Corbyn and his followers seem not to have noticed that the referendum results, with its loss of many Labour heartland voters in the northern cities and South Wales, presents Ukip with precisely the opportunity that the SNP found so rewarding. In Scotland, many lifelong Labour supporters, once detached from the Labour line in the independence vote, apparently found it easy to remain detached for subsequent elections.

Brian Mitchell
Address supplied

I want my country back – a country that was outward-looking and compassionate

The result of this toxic Tory referendum is unacceptable to half the population of the United Kingdom – particularly to the young people. It is the triumph of the old over the young, of ignorance over knowledge, of prejudice over tolerance, of folly over wisdom, of narrow nationalism over international cooperation, of excessive risk over caution, and of the less educated over experts.

What Ukip stands for is reminiscent of Sir Oswald Mosley in the 1930s. Angela Merkel’s Germany takes the moral high ground while right-wing extremism thrives in Britain. I do hope that there is a debate in Parliament. The petition to Parliament already has nearly 4 million signatories. I do hope that Parliament asserts its sovereignty on this vital issue. A majority of 3.8 per cent is too small to do something as extreme as leaving the European Union.

I have heard from many British expats who have lived in Europe for over 15 years and were unable to vote – even though they were promised the vote in the Tory manifesto. They should now be allowed to vote. Young people who are over 16 years old should also be permitted to vote. It is their future.

The £70bn a year that we were told goes down a black hole in Brussels is actually used to help develop countries that suffered under 45 years of Soviet communist occupation; countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Some goes to countries like Slovenia and Croatia, which were in the former Yugoslavia. Some of the money is given in aid to the developing world, some to refugees from Syria.

I want my country back – the country that is decent, tolerant, compassionate and outward looking towards Europe and the world.

David J. Hogg
Bristol

Solid leadership is nowhere to be found

When it became apparent that Blair and Bush had no post-invasion plan for Iraq, they were branded incompetent and irresponsible. For experienced politicians to demonstrate the same incompetence a few years later is little short of unbelievable. To complete this tragi-comedy, in the absence of a Brexit strategy, the “experts” from Goldman Sachs and KPMG will probably soon be invited in to design one – at a likely cost of at least £350m a week! The lack of responsible leadership demonstrated by Johnson, Gove – and Cameron – is breathtaking.

Alistair Wood
Powys

Free Lions

Well at least the England football team kept faith with the referendum result and have exited Europe.

Mike Bone
Suffolk

What is all the fuss? England voted to leave Europe and Roy and his boys obliged! Give the man a knighthood for his recognition of democracy.

Mike Dods

Leeds