IN 2014, I had to have a new water heater fitted.

The plumber wanted to complete the job that day so that I wouldn’t have to go without hot water. However, the merchant supplied him with a faulty heating element so the job could not be completed on time, and I had to go without hot water that night. The plumber’s merchant should have made sure that they weren’t supplying faulty equipment.

It is the same with Brexit.

David Cameron was banking on remain winning the referendum, because he had no contingency plans in the event that leave won. As a result, Brexit is a complete mess.

We should have only needed one referendum, and the right questions should have been asked before the referendum. Any provisional severance terms needed to be agreed with the EU before the referendum, with the appropriate words on the ballot paper. The right words could not have appeared on the ballot paper at the 2016 referendum because we had no definition of what the right words were.

Many leave voters say they knew what they were voting for – but how could they, without a definition in sufficient detail of how to leave the EU?

I suggest that across all the leave voters, there are many different definitions of what they believed they were voting for.

Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for not stating where he stands on Brexit. That’s because no one knows the definition of Brexit. Mr Corbyn wants to negotiate a deal on Brexit, and then hold another referendum, which is the right order in which to do things.

As for my water heater, had Boris Johnson fitted it intent on finishing the job that day despite the faulty element, I might have been electrocuted.

Jeremy Whiting, Great Lumley, Chester-le-Street.