I read with interest the letter from Mr Butcher in the September 14 issue.

There seems to be a (very small) body of opinion that says because a government led by remainers has messed up negotiations, we should all keep voting again until we get a majority for… err… remain.

The problem with this so-called people’s vote is that it seeks to run the referendum again in such a way that remain must win – ie deal on the table, no deal or remain – thus ­splitting the leave vote.

The vote, if there is one, could only be the deal on the table or leave under World Trade Organisation rules, and that is not what the likes of Dr Wollaston, Alistair Campbell and Mr Butcher want.

Which is fine – but for ­goodness’ sake, stop trying to dress it up as anything other than your determination to overturn Brexit.

We have already voted to leave or remain. It is a fact that the numbers signing the ­petition for this new vote are around 300,000. This, however, is less than one per cent of all those who voted in the last ­referendum and less than two per cent of those who voted remain.

Hardly a deafening clarion call for the people’s vote.

I reiterate – I want a deal. I want a solution to the so-called Northern Ireland problem. There are already two on the table. But most of all, I do not want to be governed by Brussels, where even this week we see a further attempt to power-grab from individual nations by an unelected Jean-Claude Juncker.

Most of all, I am secure in the knowledge that the UK will survive with or without the EU. EU countries export more to us than we do to them, so no-deal hurts them too; but that ­inconvenient fact is brushed aside by the people’s vote brigade.

Does it not seem strange that Canada and Japan have trade agreements but don’t pay for them?

We can have access to the single market, as they do (another remain myth that pretends we lose access forever if we leave), but like them we do not have to be inside the EU, nor be a net contributor to have it.

The EU does not want to offer a free-trade deal because it wants to punish us for having the temerity to vote leave. EU citizens have some time ago been told of their rights after Brexit: if you are an EU citizen, you and your family will be able to apply to get either ­settled or pre-settled status. This will mean you can ­continue living in the UK after December 2020.

It is simply wrong, but not surprising, of Mr Butcher to state otherwise.

Indeed, a visit to the Government’s own website covering settled and pre-settled status will confirm this.

Deafening silence?

More a deafening screeching by that minority who do not want to abide by democracy but will keep shouting until they get the “right” result.

Martin McGowan-Scanlon

Bay View Estate, Stoke Fleming