Dear Sir,

I am a non political resident of Newton Aycliffe and usually merely browse the “Political Content” of the letters page but felt I had to respond to some of the points made by Kathy Beetham of whom I have never heard of until recently. Her letter makes a number of statements which seem to be factual and true but on closer examination are open to question. I attempt to make counter points in the order she made her statements. Regarding the Brexit Referendum.

The majority won by almost 4%, around 1.2 million votes. That means less than half were totally devastated. True the Tories may well have handled it better but this is a unique situation. The Irish tried to leave but were bullied into a second vote, bottled it and decided to stay. We ARE leaving to a bigger more democratic world of trade and business which may or may not include the EU.

Our Government is to stockpile food just in case of devastating consequences of Brexit. Well yes, I think it prudent to start to take some steps to help ease any supposed pain so I have no problem with that. We survived food shortages during WW2, our citizens are quite capable of surviving some privations and probably many more. Hate crimes rose in the aftermath of the result. Yes they did but such a crime is one perceived by an alleged victim and by definition it may not be a hate crime. Most, according to CIVITAS were of a verbal nature not violent. I do not degenerate hate crime in any way but a sense of balance is needed here. She alleges that Jacob Rees Mogg has moved his business abroad, I suppose to avoid the supposed financial impact Brexit will have on his business.

Evidence please Ms Beetham. Jeremy Corbyn tried to make similar accusations in Parliament recently alleging Mogg had moved some of his business to Dublin. Mogg challenged Corbyn as peddling “Fake News” and possibly being guilty of “Terminal Inexactitude” (lying) this in Parliament where Mogg could be in trouble for misleading the House if he himself were lying.

He steadfastly denies moving his business to EU countries and maintains offices in London and Singapore amongst other places. I well remember the last Socialist Labour Government under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.

What a pig’s ear they made of our economy. Political Correctness was hard at work in Rotherham was it not when it allowed the continued proliferation of the child Rape scandal. No myth there.

Finally her call to join the Labour party and fight bigotry while respecting peoples race, religion etc. She ignores the furore at present surrounding the allegations of anti semitism and racism surrounding Corbyn.

What I find with Politicians from whatever party is that they do not present a balanced view supported in many instances by hard facts such as in the letter by Ms Beetham. I hope she understands that there is no way I would join a Labour Party run by Corbyn and Momentum.

J. Walker