The Labour Party need to vote against Brexit – or they are finished for good

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The strikingly short Bill was met with protest from angry Labour MPs (Reuters)

The Labour Party is wrong to be supporting the bill to trigger Article 50 on both moral and political grounds. Most Labour MPs support continued membership of the EU. If they genuinely believe that the UK will be economically and politically worse off if we leave Europe, they should vote accordingly.

Yes, the Labour Party will no doubt be attacked for failing to recognise the “will of the people”, but it should make the case that out of a “hard Brexit” and “no Brexit”, the only sensible choice is “no Brexit”. They should also explain that MPs are representatives, not delegates and that if they so wish their constituents can remove them at the next election, but in all conscience they, as Labour MPs, cannot support something they consider to be totally detrimental to the wellbeing of the whole nation.

Politically the Labour Party should think in terms of the long game. At the next General Election, it is unlikely that the full impact of Brexit will have been felt. Voters swinging away from the Conservatives will either join UKIP as a protest against the too slow progress of Brexit or the Lib Dems, as a protest against the whole notion of leaving Europe.

Even setting aside the issue of their leadership, why would anyone vote for Labour? In the longer term, if Brexit turns out to be a success, then the Tories will rightly claim the credit for their forthright strategy and approach. If it terms out to be a failure, the Conservatives will be able to argue that the Labour Party also supported Brexit, thus absolving themselves from a large portion of the guilt. Either way Labour does badly in the 2025 General Election.

If they oppose the Article 50 trigger however, then in the former scenario it is unlikely that Brexit will have been such a success that the Labour Party won’t be able to make ground by attacking the Tories over the funding for the NHS, education or social service provision.

If Brexit proves a disaster, not only will it put clear water between them and the Tories, but also allow them to claim the moral high ground in that in 2017, they put country before party. Given the Conservative majority, Article 50 will be triggered anyway, but either way, by voting against it now, Labour has a chance of doing much better in the 2025 General Election, than it will if it just resignedly follows the Tory line.

M Harris
Grimsby

No Brexit is better than a bad Brexit

Theresa May is doing a wonderful job, striving to keep us in the EU by showing the dystopian vision of life after Brexit. An authoritarian executive bent on using the royal prerogative like Charles I on steroids, then seeking parliamentary approval when the courts intervene. Then, following the divorce from Europe we walk the streets looking for the comfort of a trade deal with someone and end up prostituting ourselves to Trump's America.

I can hardly contain my excitement! No Brexit is better than a bad Brexit.

Andy Wilson
Winscombe

Canada needs to be realistic – not every Canadian is liberal

I left the UK for Canada a few years ago and I am now a Canadian citizen. Though the risk is currently small, I am increasingly fearful of widespread politically motivated armed turmoil erupting south of the 49^th parallel and severely disturbing peace in Canada.

The US is polarised beyond recognition, its population angry and distrustful, and they are armed to the teeth with more guns than people. What means does Canada have to prevent an armed hatred of liberal values infiltrating North to supply and stir up such fringe sentiments that exist here?

Such attitudes do exist in Canada as evidenced by the tragic events in Quebec City this week. This is somewhat ironic to consider when the topical conversations are about Mexican walls, refugees and Muslim travel bans to protect the USA from violent outsiders. But remote as it is, the risk to Canada cannot be dismissed.

K Tolley
Toronto

In the aftermath of the deadly shooting at a Quebec City mosque, student colleagues at Laval University stated that the confessed gunman was a Quebec nationalist who supported the immigration policies of Marine Le Pen, the populist presidential candidate in upcoming French elections. Some media suggest that the immigration ban from seven predominantly Muslim countries, recently authorised by the new administration in Washington, may have played a part in the gunman’s planning.

I haven’t seen much comment on policies of successive Quebec provincial governments, but polls show that mistrust in Muslims in La Belle Province is about double that of the rest of Canada. In 2010 the Quebec Liberal Party government of Jean Charest tabled Bill 94 to have women remove face veils if working or doing business in government offices. When the Parti Quebecois won a minority government under Pauline Marois in 2012, they went a step further and tried to introduce the Quebec Charter of Values for removing so-called “ostentatious" religious symbols; hijab scarves and niqab veils were the real bone of contention behind the proposed Charter.

During the federal election in 2015, the Conservative Party of Canada’s Stephen Harper used the niqab debate as a wedge issue to try and regain voters in Quebec, who had supported Jack Layton’s NDP four years earlier.

So, before pointing fingers at populist leaders in Europe and USA, maybe a little review of Canadian politicians closer to home would be in order. Look at “l’homme dans le miroir”, as they would say in Quebec City.

Bernie Smith
Canada

America the UK an apology

I believe the people of the UK deserve an apology for the actions of President Trump. The protests have spread to your shores and I fully understand why 1.5 million UK citizens petitioned your government to cancel his state visit.

I am deeply embarrassed by the Trump White House's rude, hallucinatory omniscience and omnipotence in warning that the president will likely "erupt" if Prince Charles pushes him on green issues or lectures on climate change. Trump has wrapped himself in an impenetrable cocoon wherein facts and the laws of nature are irrelevant and subject to elimination by executive order.

I have long admired Prince Charles for his crusade to protect the environment and address the causes of climate change. In stark contrast, the US President is embarking on an agenda that includes threats to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord and a climate future-destroying rampage of fossil-fuel production, transport, use and export.

Please stand with the many millions in the US who are protesting and will continue to protest the assaults of our government on science, scientists, the environment, the climate, and the future of all of us.

Carol Steinhar
Madison, USA

Hurrah for Ken Clarke, the only Tory MP with a backbone

I always voted Conservative across all types of elections. During this epoch there have been a handful (only) of MPs who have impressed me most of the time. The one who stands out I must say for his integrity backbone and basic common sense is Ken Clarke!

Now here we are in the second month of 2017 and I can state without fear of a U-turn I shall not be voting Conservative again but I hold Ken Clarke in even higher esteem than ever.

Robert Boston
​Kingshill