PRIOR to the 2016 referendum, I campaigned for and voted for remain. However, leave won the referendum. So why over three years later have we not yet left the EU?

I believe I know the answer to that, however my theory is different to what I hear many people saying.

Despite being a Remainer; if we can leave the EU without damaging the economy, public services and the NHS; without causing many job losses, and there will be no shortages of fresh food and medical supplies; then I can accept the result.

The result of the referendum is of secondary importance to the consequences of what we do about Brexit.

The reason we haven’t left the EU yet is not due to MPs deliberately trying to sabotage the process, but is due to our Conservative government getting it wrong time and time again.

David Cameron and Theresa May have both been failures with Brexit, and Boris Johnson is set to become another. David Cameron had no Plan B.

Theresa May failed to engage in joined up thinking and prioritised leaving the EU ahead of the consequences of leaving. The reason why Theresa May’s deals were voted down in Parliament, was because the consequences were unacceptable.

Boris Johnson has failed to recognise, or blissfully ignored, the real reasons why Theresa May’s deals were voted against in Parliament.

A good leader would have analysed why these deals were not voted for, and made amendments. However, these amendments were not what the Tory party stand for, so Boris Johnson chose to sidestep these issues by proroguing Parliament. Now his plan looks likely to fail, meaning that we still won’t leave the EU. In my opinion, we need to de-prioritise Brexit. We need to ask the most important questions first concerning peoples’ and the nation’s welfare, and then see how leaving the EU or otherwise fits in with that.

Jeremy Whiting, Great Lumley