In the novel The Leopard (now brilliantly reprised by Netflix) Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa captures the stillbirth of the Italian Republic as a democracy, with Don Ciccio raging at Don Fabrizio that his vote in the 1860 plebiscite against Sicily joining the new unified state was “annulled . . . as if I never existed, as if I never meant a thing”. The Brexit “reset” (Report, May 20) by the Labour government represents a similar disregard for the 17mn who voted to leave the EU and shows contempt for our political system and the cohesion of our society.
Rupert Boswall
Staplehurst, Kent, UK