I WENT to Middlesbrough to see a small number of Brexit supporters who had joined Nigel Farage’s march.

Pity Mr Farage was not there – I would have asked him why he has changed his mind. In 2016, when he was expecting a remain victory, he had stated that a narrow victory would inevitably lead to a second referendum.

The problem in 2016 was not just the narrow victory or the violations of the electoral law by the Brexit campaigners.

The real problem was that the vote was not at all meaningful – it was a blind vote with no detailed alternative to membership of the EU on the ballot paper.

We now know there are many Brexit options, all with downsides or failing to deliver on the promises, and the opinion polls suggest there is no longer a majority in favour of Brexit.

Parliament is about to have a third meaningful vote on Theresa May’s deal. When can we, the ordinary people, have a meaningful vote on Theresa May’s deal, with remaining in the EU as the alternative? As the Brexiteer David Davis said in 2002: “Referendums should be held when people know exactly what they are getting … We should not ask people to vote on a blank sheet and tell them to trust us to fill in the details afterwards.”

David Davis also said that referenda should not be used as a snapshot of volatile changes of opinion, as what matters is the “settled will” of the population.

Giuseppe Enrico Bignardi, Durham