Since the democratic vote to leave the EU on 23 June 2016 those wishing to remain have worked tirelessly to undermine the majority decision.

To recap, the Government’s pamphlet posted to every UK household clearly stated that voting to leave meant leaving the single market and the customs union. It also stated that this was a once in a generation vote and that the Government would implement the vote of the people. Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords voted for holding a referendum and both voted for the text on the Referendum ballot. They knew and we knew what the vote implied.

The Remainers plans are disguised by economic arguments. This includes our Remain voting Totnes constituency MP, Sarah Wollaston, who wants to stay in the customs union and tweeted that she ...”does not want to vote to make my constituents poorer and to prevent businesses being able to trade as quickly and smoothly with their biggest market”.

Well that doesn’t stack up. She voted in 2011 to make 4,640 women and 2,400 men in her constituency some £150 per week poorer when she voted to raise the state pension age from 65 to 66, and the sugar tax she introduced last month has made most families poorer. What of her other concerns? Mexico has a free trade agreement with the EU without having to be in the single market and customs union and without agreeing to free movement of people. The Isle of Man, which is not a member of the EU, trades tariff free and has a work permit system.

Our colonies managed very well when given their independence. Of course, no one would expect the transition to be totally smooth after membership of the EU for over 40 years but the regaining of our independence and our ability to strike our own trade deals throughout the world would more than compensate for that. There would be a period of transition with some not benefitting initially but this is a decision for the long term and ultimately would be of benefit to all.

Perhaps Dr Wollaston’s timidity is explained by Milton Friedman’s statement in Capitalism and Freedom’, that underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

That must be why Dr Wollaston wants the UK to be shackled to the corpse of the EU even though it is a diminishing export market in percentage terms for our country having dropped 14 per cent in 14 years.

On a global scale the EU’s share of the world’s GDP has dropped from 31.6 per cent in 1980 to 22 per cent in 2016.

Many of those of us who voted for independence see the EU as a failing project – a 1970s solution to 1950s problems.

Totnes constituency has very few businesses that export or deal with the EU market, however all must obey the EU rules.

The most beneficial impact that an MP could make for this constituency is to ensure prosperity in the rest of the country, which would lead to more money being spent in the south west by holidaymakers, for example, and, of course, supporting the fishing industry and the coastal communities by pushing for our country to be out of the disastrous Common Fisheries Policy.

Where do our MP’s loyalties lie – with her constituents or Brussels?

Ceri Jayes

Chairman

Totnes branch UKIP