JOHN Marjoram’s regular public rants against Brexit (SNJ letters 2.8.17) are to be welcomed as we can set our clocks by their regularity.

They also usefully allow for his errors and misattributions to be corrected.

On the matter of the UK’s weekly EU contribution of £350,000, he states that the electorate were ‘lied to’ by Leave advocates who said that it ‘would be given to the NHS’.

They said no such thing.

Readers can still access photos of the bus used by the Leave campaign to confirm that the message it carried suggested, “let’s fund the NHS ‘instead’”; a very obvious difference.

The size of that net weekly contribution to the EU can be argued over by virtue of the fact that Margaret Thatcher famously arranged a rebate on that sum which is used in calculations to this day.

Really?

To avoid confusion and argument, isn’t it about time that this reference was done away with?

Is that beyond the wit of UK/EU politicians?

On the matter of finance, might I recommend the 2016 “European Sting” article entitled ‘Court of Auditors: EU spending infested with errors’ which reveals the very sad state of the EU’s spending habits – shown being discussed over a ‘working lunch’, the size of which might come close to shaming a Mansion House banquet.

“Exaggerating the number of immigrants and refugees to this country” is an entirely spurious claim due to no one in Westminster or the EU having or wanting any idea of what that number might be.

The tragedy of Grenfell Tower in part proved that to be the case by way of the Government’s decision to waive prosecutions of illegal immigrants found to have been resident there at the time of the fire (or indeed any living nearby).

The fact of this particular matter is that if a foreign national reaches this country by fair means or foul, they stand next to no chance of being deported; they are here for life.

No wonder it’s a dangerous gamble that so many thousands are prepared to take – notwithstanding dwindling public services and a housing crisis.

“Article 50 negotiations are being led by the worst people we could have mustered; Boris Johnson and David Davis”.

I don’t think that Boris is leading any such negotiations John.

He fires shots from the sidelines, much as the unhelpful Tim Farron, Nick Clegg and their cliques do.

Trying to argue that the Referendum was lost by ‘Leavers’ rather than won by them is a worthless and futile exercise, very similar to Labour’s claim that they somehow ‘won’ the last election.

We live in a democracy – or would John care to argue that point too?

“Where are we going to find new markets quickly?” (post-Brexit).

I recently spent 30 minutes researching our local branch of Waitrose.

It showed that perishable produce, imported from over 40 non-EU countries, is being sold there including from Mexico which is in the EU single market but has no free movement requirements.

A large number of these countries are South American – seriously, would they want to stop trading with us when we are independent again?

Where’s the barrier?

Other than the vote lost, the worst aspect of Brexit – according to the losers/Remainers and conveniently forgotten by John – was the rampant racism that allegedly consumed the Country post-referendum result. “Statistics prove it!” they joyously announced.

Lord Stevens, the ex- Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has already declared that Police have regularly manipulated crime figures (Telegraph, 7.1.14) - to satisfy the latest fashionable meme one suspects.

To play up their claim of racism though, those opposed to Brexit infamously alleged – almost as a ‘poster incident’ and without full knowledge of the facts - that the death of a Polish man in Harlow last September, Arkadiusz Jozwick, was attributable to Brexit and was the nadir of ‘Leave’ racism.

Polish ministers, encouraged to fly to the UK to denounce this monstrous situation, attended a large scale vigil in the town centre for their compatriot – an occasion which was enthusiastically covered by the BBC and other UK news outlets.

Tragic though the incident was, it had nothing to do with racism or ‘hate’.

The victim’s death was attributable to a blow to the back of his head causing him to fall, head first, to the pavement.

The hand of a juvenile, who no doubt knew nothing of Brexit, struck the blow.

Witnesses confirmed that the Polish accent of Mr Jozwik (whose blood alcohol content at the time was twice that of the drink/drive limit) had never been mentioned prior to the attack.

The suspect – too young to be named - was found guilty of manslaughter this week.

I do wish that disappointed ‘Remainers’ like John would set aside their seemingly relentless bitterness.

Does he want a bright future for our children?

If so, it’ll have to be worked for - and millions of enthusiasts are up for that challenge.

Join us.

Roger Gough

Stroud UKIP

Minchinhampton