BRIAN ABBOTT (HAS, Nov 11) is wrong to regard the General Election on December 12 as being only about Brexit. As important as Brexit is, we will be voting for a government to legislate on the future of NHS, the police and much, much more. Only the Tories or Labour can realistically form the next government. Likewise, the Bishop Auckland constituency is narrowly poised between these two parties. Sad to say, in the absence of proportional representation (PR) every vote for every other party here will be wasted. I contend a vote for the LibDems this time will let the Tory in. Mr Abbott rightly says that most parties are solely for “leave” or “remain”.

Only Labour will give the choice to all after negotiating better terms for us leaving the EU. Labour will resolve the issue one way or the other within six months. The Tories say they will take at least a year. The 1975 and 2016 referendums were rightly conducted on the basis of a personal choice for each voter. Members of the same party who disagreed were free to campaign for either side. So it should be again.

Chris Foote Wood, Eggleston.