Sunak and Starmer must stop sitting on the fence over war in the Middle East

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

The pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday was mostly peaceful (PA)

Why are the Metropolitan Police succumbing to pressure from Suella Braverman to challenge the rights of ordinary people to march and show solidarity for those suffering in Gaza?

The majority of those marching in London over the last three Saturdays would have shared the horror of the Hamas attack on Israel.

I defend the right of anyone to march for peace and like me, many thousands of ordinary people with a conscience showed their support for a full ceasefire. Not a “pause”.

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer both need to stop sitting on their hands and act. A ceasefire needs to be pursued by America, Britain and the EU before a much bigger conflict erupts in the Middle East. It’s time for our politicians to act as statesmen and stop sitting on the fence.

Gordon Ronald

Hertfordshire

Washing machines and the microplastic problem

Some $7.1 trillion (£5.8 trillion). That’s how much plastic pollution will cost society by 2040.

Today microplastics are present in virtually every aspect of the global economy. However, the manufacturing, use, and disposal of textiles is a particularly alarming pathway for microplastics to enter the environment.

Approximately 430 billion microfibres are released into the natural environment by the textiles industry every day.

Textiles create 35 per cent of the world’s microplastic pollution too. Today some 60 per cent of textiles are now made from plastic fibres. And as a result, microplastics have become an almost ubiquitous presence in industrial wastewater systems.

Every time clothes are washed, up to 700,000 plastic fibres are released from washing machines and into waterways. This means our wastewater and sewer systems are the primary channel for microplastics entering the natural environment. Micropollutants may be miniscule in size, but their impact on the natural environment is colossal.

The consequences for the planet and human health are profound. Research suggests that human exposure to microplastics could lead to oxidative stress, DNA damage, and inflammation, among other health problems. This is concerning given microplastics have been found in human blood and lungs.

Textiles have a seismic impact on water consumption too. Indeed some 2,700 litres of water are typically used to make the average cotton T-shirt. The finishing and dyeing of clothing is particularly water intensive.

Legislation is vital but so too is action by the manufacturers of textile products. Textile manufacturers and fashion brands worldwide can work together to create a sustainable solution to stop microfibre pollution created in the textile supply chain from entering the environment. This means designing and adopting filtration technologies capable of stopping microplastic from entering the water systems and capturing the material before it is either incinerated or ends up as sludge in farming fields.

Vital too is reducing water consumption by recycling the water used throughout the textiles supply chain and injecting it back into the manufacturing process.

Creating a real cradle-to-cradle economy in textiles is a profound opportunity for a world desperate to see the back of microplastic pollution.

Adam Root

CEO of Matter

Sick to the teeth

Just what are the Tories doing about dentistry? It is a total mess and there is no plan for improvement.

I have worked all my life and paid all my taxes and national insurance as required, yet I cannot get treated unless I go private. My case is now the norm across the whole country, so what will the government do? They can either:

1. Pay dentists more to treat NHS patients, or

2. Give an annual tax refund to everyone so that they can afford to go private.

One thing is clear, the Tory government has shafted us all, they have taken our taxes but denied us dental treatment.

Get it fixed Sunak, this is an utter disgrace!

Dale Hughes

Address Supplied

We’re happy to be held to account

We [Nursing and Midwifery Council] exist to protect the public, so it’s right we’re held accountable, including through The Independent’s recent articles about us. I’d like to elaborate on some aspects for readers’ clarity about what’s happened and what we’re doing about it.

The first article, NHS regulator’s ‘culture of fear’ that leaves rogue nurses free to abuse patients, questions the outcomes of some fitness to practice cases we’ve investigated. It also shares concerns about our culture, based on a report that The Independent said we kept secret. For clarity, this was a report we commissioned to explore feedback from one of our teams, and those colleagues shared views on the basis we’d keep them confidential.

The follow-up, Nursing watchdog accused of discrimination for letting racism complaints ‘go unchecked’, suggests we’ve yet to achieve a safe, fair, and inclusive working environment. I’m very sorry for the impact this has had on colleagues, and I recognise that each of them needs to thrive to deliver on our primary purpose of protecting the public.

We’ve now appointed Ijeoma Omambala KC to lead two investigations – one into our handling of the concerns when they were first raised to us, and another into the fitness to practice cases highlighted. A separate external investigation will focus on the concerns raised about our culture. We’ll be transparent about the findings.

Separately, I’d like to respond to the most recent article, Nursing watchdog failing to investigate thousands of complaints amid concerns rogue staff going unchecked. We receive thousands of fitness-to-practice referrals every year, and each one is assessed in line with our published screening guidance.

The article questions whether we’re “rejecting” people’s concerns for the wrong reasons. We only close a concern if it’s the right thing to do. Last year, an external review of a sample of 50 case closures found that our decisions were appropriate and proportionate, and there were no concerns that we were failing to meet our duties to protect patient safety and uphold the wider public interest. This is referenced at the end of The Independent’s article.

Readers can find our full responses to each article on our website. In the meantime, I offer my personal commitment to responding to these concerns with care, rigour and a commitment to keeping people safe.

Andrea Sutcliffe CBE

Chief executive and registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council