Brexit: We all need to keep a calm head

But whichever side we are on there is one thing we can all be grateful for and be prepared to defend: the right to disagree. There is no democracy without this ability. Think of what happened in Germany in the 1930s. The currently showing of the BBC programme ‘The Rise of the Nazis’ is an excellent reminder of how freedoms can be eroded and a totalitarian state can emerge. We surely don’t want that here. So, despite our natural feelings of impatience, we do all deserve the best possible outcome. Did we really know when we voted in 2016 what we were voting for? Did we really understand what tariffs with our chief trading partner can do to our industry and also to our own pockets? Are we not also making ourselves vulnerable to Trumpist America?

In the 2016 referendum more than 17 million people voted in favour of leaving the EU. The UK population however is more than 66 million. This would suggestion to me that at least two thirds (nearer to three quarters) of our population did not vote in favour of leaving. However fed up we may feel, we do need to keep a calm head, find a way to be better informed, and ask ourselves what we really want.

CAROLINE PYBUS

Farncombe Road,

Lewes