This letter from a Mr Les Mackay was published in the Dundee Courier recently. Mr Mackay has no connection with this blog site, but his points are so intriguing and well made, we thought it worth posting them here in full. Since he has already made his views public by writing to a newspaper, we hope he doesn’t mind us re-posting his letter.

WAS IT ABOUT TAX AVOIDANCE?

Sir: I had often wondered why the very rich and powerful in the UK seemed to be so strongly in favour of a Brexit which will almost certainly severely damage the British economy, and impoverish the majority of the population for a generation at least.

Then when the Paradise Papers were released, divulging the numbers of the great and good in the UK involved in tax avoidance, including the Queen , the enormous amounts of tax lost to the country, and the UK's central role in the worldwide network of tax avoidance/evasion, I remembered an article I had read about a plan for an EU directive that would end tax avoidance practices amongst its member states. This was first mooted in 2013, and the EU draft proposal for The Anti Tax Avoidance Directive was completed in January 2016.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his government fought against this measure from its inception and, within a month of the draft proposal being presented, he had announced the date for the EU referendum.

The campaign to leave would never have prevailed without the support of the Sun, Daily Mail, Sunday Times, Daily Express and Telegraph, all of which are owned by tax avoiding media tycoons.

If it is indeed the case that the British establishment have sought to protect and maintain their power and wealth by deliberately damaging the country, it is sad day for democracy, and a further blow to the UK's already tarnished reputation in the world.