I WRITE in response to a letter from R Quirk of Ulverston (Letters, September 12, 'Boris trying to honour result').

In his letter he wrote with great confidence that "the PM, who said in his leaflet, a vote to leave is a vote to leave the customs union and the single market and the European Court of Justice”.

However, the text of the paper leaflet which came through all our doors in 2016 is now easily accessible online in the government archive. In addition to the text of the leaflet, there are 47 extra notes providing more detail.

Nowhere in that leaflet does it even mention the European Court of Justice! (A court which exists largely to ensure fairness in cross-border international trade.) The customs union is only explained in one of the footnotes. The leaflet does not mention that leaving the EU necessarily means leaving the EU customs union.

As far as the single market goes, the leaflet says: "Remaining inside the EU guarantees our full access to its single market. By contrast, leaving creates uncertainty and risk." In 2016, prominent Tory leaver MP Owen Paterson said: "Only a madman would actually leave the single market.”

I would urge readers to access the full text of the leaflet and then compare it to the Operation Yellowhammer document released last week by our Government under legal duress. Among many other warnings, the flow of HGVs across the Channel (10,000 containers of food, medicine and other goods a day) is predicted to fall by 40 to 60 per cent within one day of leaving without a deal.

Comparing the two documents (and other facts such as the fall in the pound and business investment since the referendum) I would say the 2016 leaflet was a prescient document, which many people chose to ignore.

In the next two months the UK may leave the largest tariff-free trading area on the planet with no certainty about the future. It is now clear this will seriously affect our economy, security and influence in the world.

We need to make a final decision based on facts, not prejudice, emotion, misinformation or a misguided view on how we would like things to be. The only way out of the mess we are in is for the public to have a final say with a vote based on the reality of the best deal we can actually get, vs remaining in the EU.

John Wright

Kendal