Labour must have forgotten that it’s the season for giving

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

‘The party’s latest move is indicative of a wider issue with broken promises’ (PA)

I must admit I laughed when I read Diane Abbott’s response of “bugger that”, when she felt she was being (not very subtly) manoeuvred out of government by the “powers that be” (“Starmer ‘doesn’t have a feel for politics’ or the Labour Party, Diane Abbott says” - Wednesday 25 December).

She is now pretty untouchable, and good for her! She’s made some very accurate comments about Keir Starmer and the Labour hierarchy. I agree that there is a disconnect between them and the public, who feel let down by the party at this moment in time.

The latest issue regarding the Waspi women is, to me, indicative of a wider issue with Labour’s broken promises. Of course, the cost of compensation is relevant, but one really wonders if empathy and understanding have gone missing from this government.

This will come back to haunt them in the future.

Judith A Daniels

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

People in the pews must speak up

Let’s hear it for the brave Bishop of Newcastle! (“Archbishop of York’s Christmas Day sermon ‘empty words’, Bishop of Newcastle says” -Wednesday 25 December).

Virtually alone among Church leaders, she has, in recent days, had the courage to speak truth to ecclesiastical power.  As someone who has felt compelled to speak out against injustice in my own denomination, I would hope that ordinary people in the Church of England pews will give heed to what she is saying and rally to her campaign.

At these kinds of points in Church history, when the “Shepherds” are palpably abusing the “Sheep”, God calls on prophetic souls to speak out for what is right.

Yet many in the Church “have not restored the weak or searched for the lost”.  Rather, in modern terms, they seem to spend all their time covering their backs or getting their lawyers to write self-justifying letters to the press.

These comfortable Church bureaucrats need to heed the words of the Lord. I remember a retired minister of my acquaintance saying “the mills of God grind slow but they do grind”.

It may be that – after decades of distressing stories of abuse in different denominations – God is now acting through people like Ms Hartley to bring about change. Those in top Church jobs need to look inwards and, where necessary, repent and make amends for their wrongdoing. 

Andrew McLuskey

Ashford, Surrey

Money can’t buy you influence

Surely the objection to Elon Musk making a donation to Reform UK is not primarily that he is not British, but that he is wealthy enough for the donation to be massive. (“Is it even legal for Elon Musk to give Nigel Farage $100m?” - Wednesday 18 December).

The size of any political donation should be limited, no matter where it comes from. In a country that is pleased to call itself a democracy (in spite of having an undemocratic voting system), the rich should not be allowed to exert more power than all of the rest of us.

Susan Alexander

Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire

Reform’s reality

So, Nigel Farage’s Reform has overtaken the infighting-ridden Conservative Party, and you would think by the way they celebrated that they had just won a general election. (“Reform membership overtakes Conservative Party membership for first time, party says” - Thursday 26 December).

Reform needs to wake up to reality.

It is a protest movement that jumps on every bandwagon going, has just five MPs, less than 50 councillors, and controls zero local authorities.

What’s more, come the general election, when people vote for a party that isn’t afraid to take tough decisions, they will all be toast.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant, Hampshire