Letters: When will Labour look like an Opposition?

These letters appear in the 12th March edition of The Independent

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, right, with the shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, at the party's conference last September (Getty Images)

Would it be eccentric to suggest that Jeremy Corbyn is irresponsibly disappointing us in one vital area: offering an opposition to this extremist neoliberal Government? Isn’t that what Labour is meant to be doing, rather than indulging in self-indulgent internal bickering?

It’s clear that the Conservatives are intent, on ideological grounds, on destroying the NHS (as at least Caroline Lucas points out) although this may not be in the more general interest of the British public. Why does no opposition politician (save Lucas) highlight the issue?

And in the real world anyone who displayed the sheer incompetence so conspicuous in Jeremy Hunt’s management of the ministry under his care would be sacked. Why is no Labour MP pointing this out?

Michael Rosenthal

Upper Brailes, Warwickshire

Pete Rowberry (letter, 10 March) is wrong to claim that the move to reduce the power of sitting Labour MPs to select their leader is undemocratic.

The eight members who opposed Corbyn for leadership or entered the contest for deputy leadership all have safe constituencies. They were awarded these constituencies by an unelected clique; hardly a democratic procedure.

Seven of the eight voted against their leader’s wishes in the first significant division – not much loyalty there. All of them had been prominent members of the Labour Party in power which decided children should pay for their education and, with their PFI policy, led the way with the first major step towards the privatisation of the NHS; not a mandate they were given by the voters.

This group was not only decisively rejected by the Labour Party members but also thrown out of Scotland and routed by the Conservatives in England.

What possible claim to democratic rights do they deserve?

Clive Georgeson

Dronfield, Derbyshire

It is time correspondents such as David Felton (letter, 10 March) woke up and smelled the coffee. Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party has been nothing short of a disaster and it no longer washes that he should be untouchable simply because the majority of party members voted for him. He has done little to build the broad-based coalition necessary to bring about another electable Labour Party. Instead he has surrounded himself with advisers more concerned with settling scores with Tony Blair and his associates for having the temerity to win three general elections on platforms people actually wanted to vote for.

The party lost in 2015 because it had a leader without credibility, and voters had no confidence in its ability to manage the economy, welfare or immigration.

Corbyn’s supporters need to make a choice. Do they want a narrow, self-serving debating society focused around Corbyn’s hobby horses or are they prepared to get their hands dirty by compromising with the electorate and building a policy platform voters will support? If they are not, they should stand aside and let those who wish to see another Labour government acting in the interests of those who have suffered under the Tories, while at the same time promoting the Labour Party as one of work, family and aspiration, supporting wealth creators and entrepreneurs, to take over.

Keith Nieland

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

A reminder to some people who believe Corbyn was voted as leader by grass-roots supporters: he wasn’t. Grass-roots supporters see him as an absolute disaster who has no chance of winning the next election. He was voted in by a lot of young people – who are not so forthcoming with campaigning.

Linda Theobald

London NW9

P&O knew how to say thanks to a doctor

Your report “GP charged for KitKat after treating easyJet passenger” (11 March) reminded me that some years ago I responded to an “Is there a doctor on board?” call while returning to Dover on a P&O ferry.

Having diagnosed the patient, I advised that an ambulance would need to meet the ferry at Dover. I remained with the patient until she was safely dispatched to hospital.

I later received a kind thank-you letter from the patient and a formal letter of thanks from P&O. My husband was running the church fête that year, so we wrote back to P&O asking if it could donate a raffle prize. It donated a Dover-Calais day trip ticket for a car and four passengers. That year’s event became a “Euro Fête”. We accepted any currency for raffle tickets (it was pre-euro), so people could offload spare foreign coins. It was hugely successful.

Dr Audrey Boucher

Oakley, Hampshire

Councils will have more for social care

Your article “Biggest council tax rise in years expected” (11 March) fails to mention the historic four-year funding deal we have offered councils, both giving them the certainty they need to plan ahead, and meeting their clear request to prioritise care for our elderly population.

Councils will have almost £200bn to spend on local services over this Parliament. This includes a £3.5bn social care funding package, which gives councils the freedom they asked for to set a social care precept as part of local council tax bills – but excessive council tax increases will still be subject to local referendum to protect council taxpayers.

Even with these changes, council tax will be lower in real terms in 2019-20 than in 2009-10. And if the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy figures are correct, this year’s increase will still be lower than the average 6.2 per cent annual increases we saw between 1997 and 2010.

Rt Hon Greg Clark MP

Communities Secretary

London SW1

Think again about this ‘wealthy nation’

Paul Donovan, in his thoughtful letter about pensions (9 March), ends by commenting about our economy being the fifth-biggest in the world. This is a mantra fast becoming the received wisdom.

It is often used by pundits and politicians of every hue, often in television interviews and on programmes such as Question Time. Yet these are weasel words which clarify nothing. It is my guess that the figure derives from the amount of money sloshing about in the system, particularly in the City of London. The words are an effective way to mislead.

Where would we be in this league table if we considered the quality of life and standard of living of our citizens? I suggest that we would be much lower down. We spend less on our health service and our education system than our European neighbours do. Our infrastructure is an inadequate disgrace. Extortionate house prices, housing shortages and poor-quality housing put us well down the table of developed nations.

There are now more than a million people on zero-hours contracts. If this is success, what is failure? Decades of making money from money at the neglect of real wealth creation have left us in a sorry state. However much money bedazzles the City, politicians and media, we are not the wealthy nation they would have us believe – and certainly not fifth in the world.

David McKaigue

Wirral, Merseyside

When did we ever control our borders?

The Brexit campaign makes much of “taking back control of our borders” but what does this mean? In fact, the UK has never had a full border control to take back (Commonwealth flows, the EC/EU after 1973, and always the Irish).

In the unlikely event of an acceptable level of movement being agreed, what I have not yet seen is any reasoned set of proposals for bringing this additional control about.

Who will be controlled – all entrants including visitors? How much bigger than at present will the necessary border force be? What will it cost? What additional in-country checking procedures will be required to prevent transgression? What is the projected cost of finding and removing over-stayers? What feasibility studies have been carried out? Will there be common controls for everyone, European Economic Area (EEA) citizens and non-EEA citizens alike? What is the projected timescale for bringing all this about?

Professor John Salt

Migration Research Unit,

Department of Geography,

University College London

We know a large majority of UK citizens have little or no grasp of the economic, social and political implications of leaving the EU. If there is a massive abstention from voting for this reason, will the referendum have any validity?

Gloria Cigman

Oxford

NHS: the blame is aimed at one man

Jeremy Hunt claims he wants an NHS based on openness and learning, not blame. Unfortunately, it is too late. The NHS is in crisis and there is a widespread blame culture, with everyone blaming one man: Jeremy Hunt. Maybe it is time Mr Hunt listened to those on the front line and packed his bags.

Dr Jonathan Barnes

London N4