Bugs bite back
Sir: Matthew Parris is quite right to say that we Leavers would prefer independence in reduced circumstances to affluent federalism (‘Dear Leavebugs, it’s time to admit your mistake’, 22 July). But he is wrong to suggest that our preference is a guilty secret, or that it should be.
Many of us despaired at the narrowness of both referendum campaigns, which made no attempt at addressing our ‘spiritual’ concerns about EU membership, or indeed the equally spiritual hopes of the Remainers. Spiritual, moral and cultural questions are at the root of all politics and economics, and any debate which leaves them out is empty. What should have been a great national conversation about our heritage, the survival of our culture and our national identity was reduced to competitive bean-counting.
The Leavers may therefore have won no majority for their spiritual vision of the country’s future, but the Remainers never had a majority in favour of theirs, either.
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