HAVING had the spectacle of the EU referendum, it is incumbent on politicians of all stripes to come together to try to figure out the best way forward both locally and nationally.

That being said, the campaign has been pretty disgraceful.

This wasn't just a general or local election, where if it didn't go the way it perhaps 'should' have done, the losers could regroup, put their case to the voters, hope to get back in and then make any necessary alterations to put us on the right track.

This was a once-in-a-generation vote on something that is irreversible. The British people were owed a sensible and reasoned debate.

Sadly, in a campaign riddled with hyperbole and nonsense on both sides, we were sold bare-faced lies by the careerists of the Leave campaign, whose bizarre promises of millions more for the NHS, jobs and prosperity for all, and an end to unfettered immigration are now proving to be as hollow as their dubious sums.

As a result, the UK is now a peripheral nation and it will take us many years to repair the damage that has been done.

Pleasingly, Trafford, especially Sale and Stretford, voted heavily for Remain.

However, I do not support calls for a second referendum. The people have made their decision, and I fully respect the outcome and friends and neighbours who voted for either side.

The UK is not a corrupt dictatorship, and we shouldn't keep re-running votes, like some are suggesting. The purpose of a question is to receive an answer - not to keep asking again and again till one gets the reply one had already decided one wanted in the first place.

Cllr Rob Chilton St. Mary's Ward