The government is acting hastily over deportations – the lessons from the Windrush scandal must be learnt

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

The government appears not to be learning or heeding the lessons from the Windrush scandal.

Why indeed can’t the latest deportation flight be delayed until the publication of the Lessons Learned review? Depriving children of their fathers and families, smacks of dereliction of moral duty.

There may be a case for some removals but again the government is acting too hastily and needs to step back from its strong-arm political approach. The public in my opinion want fairness and justice, not actions that just speak of “getting tough” with criminals whatever extenuating circumstances there might be.

Judith Daniels

Cobholm

Which direction is Labour headed?

So one unnamed Labour MP told The Independent: “Some of us have been talking about walking out for some time. Between 30 or 40 MPs.” (Up to 40 MPs ‘considering quitting’ party if Rebecca Long-Bailey wins race, Lizzy Buchan, 10 February.).

Perhaps these (”moderate”) MPs would care to identify themselves so those of us in the party who are still enthused by Corbyn policies can decide whether they represent an asset or a burden to Labour. I was certainly aware of the negative effect of some of those moderates, past and present, since 2015 and even during the last two elections.

Good to see the return of “moderate” as a way of denigrating the left and painting them as extreme. Sorry, should that be the “hard left”?

Eddie Dougall

Bury St Edmunds

Surely a defeat of the scale that Jeremy Corbyn suffered in December tells him that radical socialism in 2020 just doesn’t wash with the electorate and that Great Britain will continue to shun it?

We need a strong Labour Party to hold the Tories to account, but that isn’t going to happen with the leadership and policies that the country so overwhelmingly rejected.

Let Keir Starmer take the reins right away and let’s get some confidence back into this party we should be able to respect and trust.

Douglas Ghinn

Chandler’s Ford

In December last year the UK public voted overwhelming to reject Corbynism in the United Kingdom.

With the Labour leadership contest coming to a close in just a few weeks, when will the realisation hit home that the electorate have clearly spoken?

To prevent further damage and division to the party they need to urgently respect democracy, with the current leader stepping down and bringing forward a leader who can provide credible opposition in the UK parliament.

Loren Taylor

Burton Green

Health in context

By all means report, as you do today, that the total number of deaths from the latest coronavirus is now over 900. But every time you do, please also put this in context by reporting the deaths from influenza over a comparable period.

The US Centres for Disease Control have estimated that annual deaths worldwide from respiratory causes related to influenza range between 291,000 and 646,000. This suggests that between about 30,000 and 70,000 deaths have occurred throughout the world in the 40 days since the start of 2020.

We should all continue with the recommended preventive measures to avoid infection, but the coronavirus risk should be one of the least of our concerns.

Michael Clarke

Portishead

The BBC must stay

Government attacks on the BBC are deplorable. Along with the NHS it is one of the best presents the British people have ever given themselves.

The corporation’s high standards and objective news reporting have given it a worldwide reputation.

As the late Huw Wheldon pointed out the licence fee is a particularly clever British invention, keeping the organisation out of the clutches of advertisers and keeping it at a good distance from the government of the day.

Long may it flourish – pretty much in its present form!

Rev Andrew McLuskey

Ashford​