Letters | 14 July 2016 | The Spectator

Lurid about Leavers

Sir: Matthew Parris has spent much of the past few months denigrating those of us who want to leave the EU, but his latest article (‘For the first time, I feel ashamed to be British’, 9 July) really does go too far.

It is simply untrue to claim that the leaders of the Leave campaign relied on hatred of immigration, and that this won it for Leave. As Brendan O’Neill pointed out (‘Not thick or racist: just poor’, 2 July), a majority of Leave voters (including me, for what it is worth) rejected the EU primarily for sovereignty reasons. But whatever Mr Parris may feel, there is nothing immoral about wanting to control (not stop) the number of immigrants who enter one’s country. Very many other sovereign states do just that, without incurring his wrath. As for Daniel Hannan losing his temper with Christiane Amanpour, he was no doubt angry because, like so many of us, he is sick and tired of accusations that wanting to control immigration is racist and disgraceful. I have for many years read and enjoyed Mr Parris’s columns, and am disappointed that he has chosen to portray Leavers in such lurid terms.
Richard Hoare
East Lavant, West Sussex

A sense of loss

Sir: Ralph Prothero (Letters, 9 July) writes that ‘we have referendums and elections for a reason, which is that they are a peaceful means of resolving our differences’. Elections, yes. But referendums? Of the three UK-wide ones we have had, two were to dampen down raging rows within the ruling party, while the third (the AV referendum) was a stitch-up between the two parties of a coalition.