An open letter to Labour MPs who oppose a second referendum

Judging from your discussions with your constituents, have you concluded that the grievances they claim to have been expressing through their Leave vote were all, or predominantly, attributable to membership of the EU?

Have they persuaded you that the information on which they based their judgment was accurate and sufficient? In particular, have you found them fully informed about the benefits of EU membership?

Based on your own access from parliamentary sources to better quality information, and your professional responsibility to master and apply this information, do you sincerely believe that leaving the EU will materially improve your constituents’ lives, in terms of prosperity, security and quality of life, within, say, the span of their working lives?

Are you satisfied that the narrow referendum result of 2016, achieved against the background of apparent procedural and financial malfeasance on the part of the Leave campaigns, which remains the subject of ongoing forensic investigations, represented the genuine and un-manipulated view of the electorate, and, further, that this view remains that of the 2019 electorate, which has in the intervening period undergone a turnover three times that needed to reverse the result?

Do you believe that the interests of your party and your own career should transcend those of the nation and your constituents?

If your answer to all, or any, of these is ‘no’, why have you elected to play catspaw to Nigel Farage, rather than engaging your constituents in a process of education and informed debate?

Charles Baily, Bedford

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