I VOTED for Brexit and have no regrets as the EU is a brutal capitalist institution which has imposed privatisation and austerity on member countries against the wishes of the people.

I voted Brexit because I thought that it would enable a future Labour government to renationalise public utilities and transport and end privatisation of the NHS without breaking undemocratic EU rules.

Unfortunately, because most of the Parliamentary Labour Party is still sulking about the result of the referendum, the terms of Brexit are being determined by a lunatic ultra-right wing fringe of the Tory Party.

Events of the past week demonstrate this clearly.

The Tories have just implemented the biggest cuts to disability benefits since the creation of the welfare state, pushing into destitution hundreds of thousands of chronically sick, mentally ill and severely handicapped people.

But, what are biggest issues of the week in the right wing media? Passports and Gibraltar.

There are millions of Tory and Ukip supporters who are foaming at the mouth at the prospect of getting an Empire blue passport instead of a red EU one. How on earth the colour of a passport will improve the lives of these idiots is beyond me.

Perhaps hungry disabled people will be able use their new lovely blue passports for ID purposes to get a handout at a food bank?

Blue passports are laughable but threatening war over Gibraltar is borderline insane.

Gibraltar is a tax haven used by some of the most disreputable businesses in the UK such as on line gambling companies and dodgy finance institutions.

If the Gibraltarians want protection then they should pay the same taxes as everyone else in this country. Every penny that is squirrelled away in Gibraltar by the rich and greedy denies the NHS and education services of the tax revenues that we vitally need.

John Gilmore, Bishop Auckland