WHAT is clear from the referendum is that it was not about Brussels but colour, race and religion, stoked by fear and hate, which will damage our communities and cross border harmony for decades to come.

Readers need to remember more people come to the UK from outside mainland Europe each year and that won’t change. Like many EU countries we have an ageing population and too few births, resulting in not enough people to work and pay taxes going forward.

Scotland and Northern Ireland will move to break up the Union and when the tens of thousands working in farming leave there will be no one to harvest.

UK unemployed won’t fill those jobs. That’s why mainland Europeans do.

Finally, you get Boris Johnson as PM.

Tracey Simpson-Laing, Amberley Street, York