Labour’s hard choices are mapping out an optimistic future

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

Many will be breathing a sigh of relief that a down-to-earth chancellor is laying out the plans (via Reuters)

Rachel Reeves’s speech was a magisterial and damning denunciation of 14 years of Tory economic mismanagement. However, the real question now – as I am sure she recognises – is: “What’s to be done?”

There were, of course, helpful comments on policy; honouring pay review recommendations, support for AI and, above all, growing the economy. The Labour left would no doubt have liked the chancellor to go further – and perhaps in the October Budget we will get a bit more economic “futurology”.

Either way, many will be breathing a sigh of relief that a down-to-earth chancellor and a down-to-earth government now seem to be mapping out a much more optimistic future for the UK.

Andrew McLuskey

Middlesex

Young perpetrators must face the full force of the law

The attack in Southport raises the issue of legal age once again. The 17-year-old boy arrested and accused of murder cannot be named as in the eyes of the law he is classed as a child.

I believe in an increasingly violent society, the legal age should be reduced to 16 so that young perpetrators of violent crime can face the full force of the law.

It is always frustrating for the public not to know who carries out these acts due to legal restrictions. Leaving a spokesman to announce it is “not a terrorist act” only raises more questions.

Peter Fieldman

Paris

They would have taken a bullet for him

In my opinion, the Republicans dominated by former president Donald Trump were very harsh towards the Secret Service agents responsible for his protection.

Did they see the six agents crowding around him while bullets were whistling through the air? I say hats off to them!

After the attempt on his life, Donald Trump should have taken the opportunity at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to publicly thank the agents who served as his shield. But no, it was necessary to punish the Democrats in power, to suggest “a plot”.

Former Trump aide Michael Cohen once said he would have gone so far as to take a bullet for him. This is what the few Secret Service agents near him were ready to do on 13 July.

Sylvio Le Blanc

Montreal

Money for nothing

I’m a 90-year-old pensioner. I’m not rich, but I’ve earned well over my life and feel very fortunate not to have to worry about paying bills.

Each December, I’ve always been surprised to find an extra £100 paid into my account. When my wife died, it suddenly went up to £200.

Nobody minds receiving unexpected money but the truth is that people like me don’t need it, so congratulations to Rachel Reeves for removing the winter fuel payment and putting it to much better use.

David Buckton

Cambridgeshire

A breath of fresh air

Sadiq Khan has to be congratulated on his persistence in expanding the Ulez zone in London. Everyone in the capital needs to be thankful that he overcame the resistance of ill-informed car obsessives supported by the Tory party.

I am particularly thankful that the number of schools in areas of very serious pollution has been substantially reduced. Children are particularly vulnerable to health issues resulting from poor air quality. I hope mayors in other cities follow suit.

David Felton

Crewe