Blame party whips, not politicians, for our failing politics

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Many feel let down after a general election when MP's promises are not kept (Getty)

I have long considered that most individuals enter politics for the best of reasons. Unfortunately, for most it just never happens: no sooner are they welcomed into the House of Commons than they are given a grounding by their political party bosses as to exactly what their purpose in life is.

Perhaps Karen Moore (Letters, 6 July) thinks this purpose is to serve the best interests of their electorate, but the reality is that the people these newly elected MP’s must serve are their party whips. The job of the whips is not to serve the electorate – it is to maintain party discipline, to best ensure the ethos of the party is upheld. This ethos will typically not bend to the needs of the time, or the needs of the most vulnerable. In fact, as demonstrated by David Cameron, it can place the nation at great peril as a consequence of attempting to keep the party in line.

Thus, with a Tory Government in place, you can expect to see ever lower taxation (especially for the wealthy), support at all costs for an ever smaller government involvement in the nation’s affairs, the belief that government must not get in the way of market forces since the markets are somehow considered far more intelligent and ordered, and a force for common good.

We can see these factors at play today, whether you consider the constant pressure to spend less in real terms on the NHS, the emergency services and education, or whether you consider the reduction in financial support for society’s most needy. You can see it in the failure to accept that the self-employed should be asked to pay a more realistic national insurance contribution, and in the Government’s assertion that it has been very successful in creating so many jobs, when the majority have actually been zero-hours and/or mock self-employed (where the individual only has one employer).

The majority of those that seek to represent their community in the House of Commons are undoubtedly good people. It is just a pity that they are eaten up by a self-serving party political system.

David Curran
​Feltham

There's hope for Parliament yet

The letter from Karen Moore (Politicians perform thankless tasks every day – we must show them more respect) only partly addresses the status of politicians.

Their job is indeed a difficult one, but let's not forget they all choose to stand for election, and they do so for a multitude of reasons. While I agree with Karen that many politicians are indeed “stars” and deserve our support, others do not.

The biggest problem just now is trust, or rather lack of it, something that results from years of neglect of what are sometimes condescendingly called “ordinary working people” who form the backbone of a nation. We are all ordinary people. Politicians need to recognise that and come down to our level.

However, it is heartening to note the presence of several relatively new MPs, younger and less dogmatic than the norm who may well hold the key to a genuine “government of the people”. Whether they survive the challenge of remaining individuals in the Westminster bear pit remains to be seen.

Steve Edmondson
Cambridge

Theresa May has made the wrong decision on climate change

The CBI talks about building bridges while Theresa May is busy setting them alight with her decision not to make climate change a priority,

David Wallis
​Cirencester

I think that Theresa May lives in the mid-1950s. A huge majority of the public care intensely about the pollution derived from burning fossil fuels or the dangers derived from nuclear fuels. Germany has now issued it statistics for renewable energy production for quarter ending June 2017. The British people will be lucky to see the statistics for their country in three months’ time.

It now seems certain that people in London and other cities are being poisoned by the effluent from the use of fossil fuels including children walking to schools.

Although we are born and live in a particular period of time and have to accept the current position of technology, it is unfortunate that we are controlled by a dinosaur who has no understanding of how parents and grandparents feel about the their offspring facing risks that are now possibly capable of being eliminated.

I think it is unfortunate that the Prime Ministers' actions give support to those anti-democratic views that express the thought that people who do not have descendants should not be put in positions of political power.

Ray Anderson
Address supplied

We shouldn’t be paying for statues when we can’t fund our services

Paying £300,000 for a statue of Margaret Thatcher whilst the austerity debate rages and public services struggle for funds? Regardless of political views or the risk of vandalism, that's obscene. The argument that it may be privately funded does not make it any less offensive to those struggling in austerity Britain.

John Baird
West Yorkshire

What does Theresa May actually want?

How can we hope for joined-up thinking in Whitehall when just round the corner in Downing Street the PM seems to believe the UK will be safer out of the EU and that the G20 should do more to collaborate in fighting “terror”? Go it alone, May, or go it together?

John Mann
London NW2