There’s a much bigger vote winner than tax or immigration

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That the PM should now be hoping to win the election by pressing the two oldest hot buttons of right-wing demagoguery – tax cuts and immigration – is truly astonishing

Your editorial is right that British elections are nearly always won in the centre ground rather than on the left or right fringes of politics. Rishi Sunak initially appeared as a voice of calm and moderation, and a manager of competence after the chaos of Boris Johnson’s administration and the lunacy of Liz Truss.

That he should now be hoping to win the election by pressing the two oldest hot buttons of right-wing demagoguery – tax cuts and immigration – is truly astonishing.

Surely what concerns most of our fellow citizens now is the collapse of public services in Britain across the board, and wondering how the next government is going to be able to bring about significant improvements at a time of great economic difficulty. One can hardly list all the different issues. The NHS and public health provision – and the ageing hospital estate; social services (for young people, the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged); the squeezed educational budgets and the poor state of many school buildings; the prohibitive cost of travel and the mismanagement of transport infrastructure and services; the cost of public utility services; the almost complete lack of remedial services; and the disgraceful delays and backlogs in the administration of justice. One could go on.