THE motion to take "no deal" off the table was a temporary measure and the wording of the motion made this clear. Therefore, I expect Theresa May to ask to extend Article 50 by two months – until just before the EU elections. If this is agreed by the EU, and as the EU will not countenance a further extension beyond the EU elections, she will then bring her deal back to parliament at the end of May (the month). It will then be a choice between her deal and no deal. This will see her deal passed.

The Labour Party is supine in the current situation. It calls for a General Election in which, according to the polls, it is possible, even likely, that the Conservatives could win an overall majority. This would be a disaster for Labour and the UK, and the notion calls into question Labour's competence. Even if it were to win, how much longer would its negotiations take, assuming the EU were willing to tear up the previous agreements and start again?

In this I see no prospect of a second EU referendum and, unfortunately, to revoke Article 50 would require MPs to vote for the sake of the country and their consciences rather than party or self-interest. So it is Mrs May's deal or no deal, still.

George Rhind,

Cochno Road, Hardgate, Clydebank.

WITH this second meaningful vote, Theresa May has surely written her own political obituary (“Delay and dismay”, The Herald, March 13). She is politically dead but she refuses to lie down.

This is a woman who has shown that she has no people skills in her inability to bring people on board with her. She also has the Midas touch in reverse. Everything she touches turns to dust – her climate of fear for immigrants, cutting police numbers, the Windrush scandal and her strong and stable campaign, to name but an egregious few.

Her ability to keep on banging her head against the brick wall of EU intransigence is indisputable.

Despite all her optimism that she had obtained significant legal changes in her agreement from the EU, her attorney-general drove the final nail into her political coffin with his legal pronouncement that the risk of the backstop, which was a British invention, was still there. If she had any sense of honour, she would stand down.

They say that every political career ends in tragedy. Mrs May has produced the perfect script for that denouement and is leaving us teetering on the brink of a disastrous economic abyss.

Denis Bruce,

5 Rannoch Gardens, Bishopbriggs.

Read more: Europe reacts to Theresa May's Brexit deal defeat

IN response to David Cameron's referendum, the people of the United Kingdom decided by a majority that they wanted to leave the European Union. Parliament respected that decision and set about putting the will of the people into practice. And found it could not.

This has left us with the chaos of a Parliament unable to deliver on what it promised; a dire consequence which is likely to leave our democracy exposed and vulnerable to extremism.

I suggest in order to move from this present danger, we as a country should seek sanctuary by retreating to a place of safety; in this instance that would be the status quo. That state, if anyone can remember was one of relative calm and prosperity. Once there we would be able to put the question of the referendum result in reserve, allowing time to act upon our reflection and consideration. We would be able to do this knowing our democracy was intact within the protection of Europe.

It's a side issue but I do think we allowed the instigator of this referendum madness, Mr Cameron, to get off far too lightly. I propose he should be brought back to answer for himself; made to tour all of the UK and take questions from the people on "why?"

Alex Robertson,

5 Endfield Avenue, Glasgow.

WE have been led into a political and constitutional crisis without parallel in modern times by a prime minister who grossly under-estimated Brexit's complications.

She also failed to be honest with her party or country about the compromises and trade-offs that leaving an economic union after almost 50 years was bound to entail. In addition she refused to regard as legitimate the interests of the 48 per cent who voted to remain, deepening the divide within the nation.

The alternatives to membership are unattainable, unappealing or both, so Theresa May must go and Article 50 withdrawn because we need time to reflect on where we go from here.

Rev Dr John Cameron,

10 Howard Place, St Andrews.

IT’S my guess that even if the guarantees required by Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Economic Research Group (ERG), on the Irish backstop had been agreed by European Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier crossing his heart and hoping to die as Theresa May’s Brexit deal was declared Holy Writ by the Attorney-General, seconded by the Archbishop of Canterbury, it would still have been a No-No from hardline Leavers.

It’s time to move to an extension and a second referendum.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road,

Kilbirnie.

IF no deal is harmful to Britain, then it is equally harmful to the EU. In April 2018 the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper warned that 41 of the 50 areas which would be hardest hit by a no-deal Brexit were in Germany. The paper lamented then that most of these regions had made no preparations for no deal.

With President Trump threatening the German car industry with 25 per cent tariffs the outlook has got even bleaker for the country, which has had to downgrade growth forecasts several times recently. It is time for Angela Merkel's famed pragmatism to assert itself for a resolution to the backstop and thus enable her to exit the European stage in glory. After all, it is Germany (sorry, Mr Macron) which is the power behind the Brussels throne, and always will be.

Morag Black,

3 Leeburn Avenue, Houston.