One of the more irritating facets of the Brexit debate (and there is no shortage of them) is the cry by Leavers that a second referendum, a People’s Vote, would be in some weird way be a betrayal of the British people.

We know from their cavalier use of numbers on the sides of buses that Leavers can’t add up, and here we have another example of their limited grasp of numbers. The simple fact is that the British people did not vote for Brexit: only 37 per cent of the electorate voted for it, while 63 per cent did not vote to leave.

Much is also made of the claim that many Leavers had not voted before, and thus for some odd reason the rest of us should be particularly respectful of such people - we are told it would somehow undermine their faith in democracy to ask them to vote again.

I believe that exactly the opposite logic applies – if people were so apathetic and uninterested in how their country is run that they hadn’t previously bothered to vote, then their vote should be treated as being of less worth – not all views are of equal merit - nowadays we don’t accord much respect to “flat-earthers”.

Of course the referendum was an absurd way to decide a highly complicated issue of existential significance, and David Cameron is deserving of our undying contempt. However we are where we are – the laughing stock of the world, rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

But we do now know it is the overwhelming view of experts (people whose views are actually worth listening to) that there is no good exit deal available. Consequently we should use the referendum tool for one last time (and never again) to allow intelligent, informed members of the electorate to save their less able fellow citizens from themselves; put Farage, Gove, Johnson and the other demagogues who got us into this mess back in their box and hopefully out of public life; take power off the streets, and give it back to parliament and people who actually know what they’re talking about, and trust them to keep us in the EU – one of the great creations of European civilisation of which we should be proud to be a member.

Ronald McGrath

Langley Way, Watford