The Christmas festivities and the New Year celebrations have passed and now we must face reality.

Theresa May has suggested, in her New Year message, that people should unite following the E.U. referendum vote. The current phrase of the moment is “Post Truth”.

It might therefore be considered pertinent to reflect on the reality of how we have come to face the future that is now depressingly all too apparent.

We were taken into a referendum by a government elected on 36.9 per cent of the total electoral vote. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, instigated the referendum to appease and deflect the growing support for the UKIP party; its leader being a wealthy multimillionaire who at the same time as seeking to suggest he was a man of the people clandestinely attempted to set up a tax avoidance scheme for the benefit of his family.

The referendum itself was set up on the notion of “first pass the post”. There are many who would justly argue that a figure of, say, 70 to 80 per cent of the electorate voting in favour of leaving, would constitute the rightful justification to exit the European Union.

Instead what we had was the reality that 28 per cent of the electorate didn’t bother to vote on such an important issue, with the remaining votes split between the leavers and those wishing to remain; hardly a resounding or decisive justification to leave.

That we are now leaving the E.U. based on such a flimsy referendum vote is beyond comprehension.

We often hear the phrase uttered that the “‘British people have decided to leave the E.U.”, including sadly from other member states within Europe.

Of those who did vote to leave we know there are differing and ill-judged reasons including the notional unreality of “we want Britain to be great again”. Many such voters are, of course, unlikely to be around in the next 10 to 20 years.

The two main protagonists responsible for this whole debacle are, to be sure, the ex-Oxford Bullingdon Club members David Cameron and Boris Johnson but the pitiful support for staying in the E.U. given by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves much to be desired. As with the leader of the Labour opposition, Theresa May somewhat demonstrated she too was a closet Brexit supporter.

All the political parties have done little to fully educate the voting public regarding the true democratic element of the European Union, leaving many swimming in a pool of ignorance!

I, along with others, have no intention whatsoever of uniting; we are realists and fully understand the European Union is not perfect but to be a member of it is far preferable to being alone outside pursuing outdated notions of the benefits of being cut off from the rest of Europe.

Francis Durham, Shepherds Way, Rickmansworth