Letters: 'Our "small group of protestors" totalled 48 people'

There were in fact approximately 48, which is the number we had intended.

Protests tend to be noisy, especially when the issue, like the Brexit issue, is very divisive. We did not want this.

Our aim is to work to resolve the division that Brexit has created through dialogue, not through shouting and confrontation.

We put out our message on placards, but otherwise sought to make our views known without provoking confrontation with Farage’s supporters.

The difficulty is that neither Farage himself nor his supporters wish to engage in dialogue.

As the online comments that followed the news report on Thursday clearly show, the Brexiters prefer abuse to dialogue.

This is a situation that Farage himself has helped to create, and it may eventually backfire on him if there is a general election. He has questions to answer if he’s to have any hope of persuading voters of his cause. When he says that there will be a short period of disruption after a no-deal Brexit, we need to know what exactly will happen.

Patrick Minford, the Brexiters' own economist, stated in 2016 that Brexit would "mostly eliminate" manufacturing.

If so, then that’s the bright new post-Brexit future for the people of the North-East, whose economy is reliant on manufacturing and is export-led.

It’s getting clearer and clearer what we lose through Brexit, but what do we actually gain? Farage has some explaining to do, and Tees4Europe will continue to challenge him and his supporters to do precisely that.

Scott Hunter, chair, Tees4Europe