The only thing that matters to Nigel Farage is… Nigel Farage

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, ‘this country’s biggest wind-up merchant’ (PA)

I wonder why those who admire and support Nigel Farage cannot see that all that matters to Farage is... Farage.

It seems to me he is this country’s biggest wind-up merchant. He has the skill to read and then exploit the base prejudices of those who take pride in not thinking for themselves.

I don’t believe he has any real beliefs. He just loves to find the most outrageous and extreme views out there and then puts on the “I’m just an ordinary bloke” act.

He is shallow, and therefore unable to evidence his “policies”, demonstrated by his regular hissy fits and his habit of storming out of interviews when challenged.

What I really cannot understand is why he has been given more airtime by broadcasters than other more serious and considered people in public life.

Is it because they think he has more entertainment value? Well, they thought that about Boris Johnson – and look what a success that was.

Sandra Kelly

Worthing

Out of sorts

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has stated: “I think it’s very important if Labour win, that they have an effective opposition in parliament.”

He has a fair point, but given that the Conservatives haven’t even managed to be an effective governing party for most of the last 14 years, he hasn’t really made a convincing case for who that opposition ought to be.

Julian Self

Milton Keynes

An insult to democracy

Poor SNP leader, John Swinney – I suppose he’s trying his best, but really... get a grip!

In the SNP manifesto, he insists that if his party wins more than half the Scottish seats on 4 July, then he has a mandate to commence independence negotiations with Westminster.

So he’s actually suggesting that if he loses 19 seats (the SNP won 48 in 2019) then he’s in a position of strength? In 2019, his party received 45 per cent of the vote, so obviously under half anyway, so presumably 29 seats would translate into perhaps 35 per cent voting SNP.

It’s hardly a convincing majority in support of leaving the UK, even assuming that a couple of voters will back other breakaway parties. Moreover, why would a new government (presumably Labour) begin independence negotiations when, for instance, 35 per cent of us have voted for the SNP on a maybe 60 per cent turnout?

If Labour did so, it’d be an insult to democracy. Back to the drawing board, John.

Martin Redfern

Roxburghshire

A valuable lesson

I really can’t understand why Keir Starmer’s suggested rise in VAT tax on private schools has generated so much backlash when it affects so few.

I understand that many parents work hard and save money in order to send their children to private schools. They undoubtedly want the best and have aspirations for their children’s education.

But so do parents who send their children to state schools.

Those parents have witnessed the public education system stripped of cash, down to its bare bones. And no matter how hard they work and how much they struggle and save, sending their children off to private schools for extortionate fees is just not a feasible option.

Funding the public sector and providing state schools with the money they need is an entirely justified reason to implement this tax. Yes, it may push some children out of private education, but would that be such a bad thing if state schools were finally provided with the money they need to work effectively?

Such money would allow for more teachers, better resources, smaller class sizes, etc… It would mean that state education would finally be on par with its private counterparts, and children wouldn’t have to rely on money alone to provide them with the education every child deserves.

Jacinda Postcard

Brighton