ANY young person seeking to understand how the Brexit mess happened may gain insights from studying the muddled response to my letter that listed the 80 developing nations (including the 15 nations of the Caribbean) with which the UK has Free Trade agreements with through our membership of the EU.

This list was not exhaustive, by the way, nor did it include all the richer nations with which the EU/UK also has trade and free trade agreements.

Mr Coates’ response (Letters, February 3) was telling.

In the new Gove/Trump world where if you don’t like facts you simply pretend they don’t exist and/or denounce the messenger, Mr Coates insinuates the list is wrong without offering proof.

He pretends that these agreements predate our EU membership even though the list is a list of EU trade agreements.

For good measure he asserts that outside the EU the UK will magically have better trade agreements than free trade ones; whatever that means.

This is why our MPs should in the months ahead ignore May/Corbyn’s cry to “trust the people” and, instead, stick to learning the facts about our relationship with the EU. Much is at stake.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York