It appears that the House of Commons Commission headed by the Speaker has thwarted any idea of Big Ben chiming our official withdrawal from the European Union at 11pm on January 31.

Their rather limp excuse was that they didn’t think it was legal to use donated monies to reach the ridiculous £500,000 figure they quoted to make this happen, bearing in mind it cost only £120,000 to undertake temporary work to chime in the New Year.

I do hope things will be different throughout the rest of the country in that I would expect cathedral bells to peel in splendour - not just the 11pm chimes - to mark Britain’s freedom from the sinking ship of the EU.

I certainly hope we hear the York Minster Bells ringing in a prosperous new future.

Bob Waite,

Holgate, York