Pro-Brexit vote could have been much higher

The Brexit Party's Jake Pugh, Lucy Harris and John Longworth have been elected in Yorkshire and Humber. Picture: Steve Riding.

You HAVE to laugh at desperate Remainers trying to tell us that their desire for a second referendum has won the day in the EU elections here in Britain.

They claim that all the Remain parties’ votes, if added together, outnumber the Brexit Party/Ukip total.

What they fail to understand is this: lots of Brexit voters in 2016 were so disgusted in having to go through this incredibly wasteful charade of sending 73 people off to do sweet nothing in Brussels, that they refused to vote on principle.

I know several former Brexit voters who said “enough is enough” this time.

And we saw even in my own household, where my wife and myself both voted Leave in 2016, that last Thursday, only one of us decided to go to the polling station.

From: John Turley, Dronfield Woodhouse.

I’ve little doubt that the ardent Brexiteers will claim that the outcome of the EU elections in England, Wales, and Scotland was a decisive mandate for their vision of a hard or no deal Brexit.

However if you look at the figures, as in the 2017 general election, more people voted for political parties favouring a soft or no Brexit (Lib Dem, Lab, Green, Change UK, SNP, Plaid Cymru), and who also elected more MEPs, than those favouring a hard or no deal Brexit (Brexit, Ukip and Con).

The results also tend to confirm my long-held belief that the ardent Brexiteers probably make up no more than about 40 per cent of the electorate, the remaining 12 per cent who voted Leave having done so for reasons other than being passionate about leaving the EU, such as the false promises on NHS spending, scares over immigration, and as a protest against austerity.

They love to bang on about democracy, but consider that only their views should be considered, and those of the remaining 60 per cent ignored.

From: Roger Brown, Sandal, Wakefield.

Imagine a school race; boys and girls. Six entrants; one boy and five girls. The winner is awarded six points, the second five, the third four, etc.

The boy wins handsomely and is awarded six points.

However, the girls say: “ We won five, four, three, two and one; a total of 15.”

As this total is greater than the winning six, they claim that they have won. Would this be fair?

Pro-Brexit vote could have been much higher - Yorkshire Post Letters