The Tory party threw away our future, and now they are suffering the consequences

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Recent polls suggested the Tory party may spend the foreseeable future in opposition (PA Wire)

The indication offered by the recent by-elections as to the result of the next general election seems to suggest a Labour government is on the horizon. There appears to be an accompanying assumption that the Tory party may spend the foreseeable future in opposition.

This is the party that continues to offer the electorate austerity and the ultra-wealthy what appear to be limitless tax-dodging opportunities. It has amply demonstrated its capacity for incompetence, duplicity, and corruption in its management of the Covid crisis. Those wounds run deep and remain untreated.

Then we have their disgraced chancellor, catastrophic fiscal events, and one-off and disadvantageous trade deals. They also furnished us with crippling and benefit-free Brexit based, almost in its entirety, on lies.

The Tory party threw away our future along with our prosperity. Much of what they have done will take years to repair. Brexit, an unparalleled act of national self-harm, clearly requires major adjustment and, preferably, reversal. The only mainstream party with a policy offering us the democratic option to rectify that Tory-powered mistake is the Lib Dems. That policy is likely to prove very popular.

I suspect that the prospect of a factional and disintegrating Tory party falling out of power is far from a given, but the by-elections show they are clinging on to survive as a meaningful political force.

David Nelmes

Newport

The government needs to work with landlords, not drive them away

Inner-city housing is a critical part of the puzzle when it comes to addressing the country’s housing crisis and delivering on our environmental targets, but the Government needs to think carefully about the challenges and opportunities associated with high-density housing.

Managing large, complex apartment buildings is not straightforward and the Government’s leasehold reform agenda risks pushing this responsibility onto residents, many of whom do not want it. We need to maintain consumer choice in the market, ensuring that both leasehold and commonhold tenures are fit for purpose and properly regulated.

Decarbonisation is also an important challenge when it comes to this form of housing and the Government should work with institutional investors and landlords on this agenda instead of trying to drive them out of the market.

Mick Platt

Director of the Residential Freehold Association

We haven’t seen nothin’ yet...

There is an awful irony in sending planes to rescue holiday-makers fleeing fires caused by climate change. It seems people are just not making the connection between aviation and the worsening effects of global warming. This is exactly the reason why Greta Thunberg refuses to fly.

A spokesperson from the holiday industry claimed that new aviation fuel being currently researched would make flying “more sustainable” – but this is greenwashing! These new green fuels do not yet exist!

If people want to stop climate change, they must wake up and start to really care about this fragile planet and the future generations who will try to inhabit it.

If the intergovernmental panel on climate change report is to be taken seriously, then we must all:

• Stop flying
• Stop driving
• Stop consuming meat and dairy
• Stop using fossil fuels

To pretend otherwise will lead to climate catastrophe. We haven’t seen nothing yet...

Anne Watson

Cornwall

Time to smell the smoke

Given Jacob-Rees Mogg’s penchant for giving historical and classical names to his many offspring and his opposition to green measures against global warming, perhaps he should christen his next child Hephaestus after the Greek god of fire. He needs to wake up and smell the smoke.

Tim Sidaway

Hertfordshire

Who gets the freedom of expression?

The decision by the private bank Coutts to close Nigel Farage’s account has provoked a furious reaction from Rishi Sunak’s government.

Coutts closed Farage’s account because he didn’t have enough money to bank with them. And since the decision was taken, documents have emerged which show Coutts no longer wanted to be associated with Farage on the grounds that his “publicly stated views” are “xenophobic” and “racist”.

Responding to the right-wing media’s moral panic over the affair, the government framed the issue of “client de-banking” as one of “free expression”, threatening to “take the action necessary” to protect what they define as "lawful freedom of expression".

Banks will now have to give a notice period of 90 days before closing an account, to give those affected more time to appeal against the decision.

Will the government’s new rules about banking and “free expression” apply across the board – will companies be allowed to express who they do and do not want to associate with – or are they only designed to protect those like Farage?

Sasha Simic

London