WITH the leading pro-Brexit supporters fragmenting, faced with the realities of the issue, it is time to look at their motivation.

Many of the Brexit backers are very wealthy, angry that the EU seeks to regulate hedge funds and tax avoidance havens.

They will be little affected by a car crash Brexit; many have substantial investments overseas. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s company has virtually no investments in the UK, but more than £200 million invested in Russia!

They even have a significant financial interest in destabilising the stock market through Brexit. Many have made heavy bets – known as short positions – benefitting from fluctuating share prices in a downturn in the stock market. Talking up a no-deal Brexit is a financial, not a political, strategy for them. Manipulating the markets!

This happened from day one, apparently. The chair of the Commons treasury committee said exit poll data on the day of the referendum had been sold to hedge funds!

No wonder, then, that every time the UK and EU look to be moving towards a deal, the extreme Brexit supporters throw a spanner in the works, they want uncertainty so they can exploit a volatile stock market.

Yet pro-Brexit extremists are fragmenting as the British public increasingly become aware of the realities behind their desperate antics. UKIP is moving to the right, seeking to attract extremists. Jeremy Hockings, someone who has invested millions in two dozen Russian companies, wants to set up a Brexit party.

This chaotic situation is not what millions of people voted for in the referendum. They did not vote to be poorer, for rich speculators to distort and derail the process.

The British people need to take back control from these profiteers. We have to have a second vote!

A P Milroy

Trowbridge