Once again, the government is showing its true colours

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The word ‘sorry’ seems to have dropped out of their vocabulary altogether (Getty)

Self-seeking and narcissistic, the Tory party is once again showing us its true colours.

So much so that a recent poll shows that the majority of Tory voters think the Conservatives are the party of sleaze. They seem to have no interest in sorting the problems this country faces or even learning from their mistakes. The word “sorry” seems to have dropped out of their vocabulary altogether.

I suppose their advisers and chums have told them that using this word is a sign of weakness and won’t gain them any credibility or sympathy.

Where are the decent MPs? There must be some, I’m sure. Why don’t they stick their heads above the parapet or is there an unwritten rule that you are now a servant of the puppet master who has control of your strings? The in–fighting among the Tories shows their true colours as a party of division, with no sense of pride in the high office of parliament.

John Stockwell

Ware

Did Liz Truss listen?

I have to admit that I was unaware of the existence of LDIs and their relation to pension funds. But then I didn’t presume that I was uniquely qualified to run the country and the economy.

That is why we have the civil service and highly paid advisers, but ultimately it is the duty of those in government to rigorously stress test or risk asses policies prior to implementation. One has to wonder if Liz Truss had been told of the dangers of her and her chancellor’s budget would she have listened?

I suspect not. In the same way that champions for leaving the EU were told ad nauseum of the damage they would do to our economy but went ahead anyway, ideology trumping all logic.

Geoff Forward

Stirling

Workers now need to focus on the present not the future

Following the latest report from the think tank Social Market Foundation, it is clear that certain areas of society are not benefitting from current pensions legislation.

Some employers and pension funds are already actively making moves to improve how they benefit all of their employees from all backgrounds and ways of living. But one of the issues is not just to get people to join, but to contribute more when they join. Initiatives have been trialled in the past to try and encourage people to save more, but due to the economic climate we’re in there has been significantly lower uptake than expected.

The cost of living crisis has shifted workers’ minds from the future to the present when it comes to distributing their money – with some even having to come out of retirement.

Ideas such as pension dashboards to monitor the progress of a pension will help with transparency and engagement, but until the very human hurdle of the cost of living is overcome the pensions pay gap issue will continue.

Charlotte Cartwright

Sutherland

Do we need influencers in a cost of living crisis?

In the middle of a cost of living crisis do ordinary working people need to be constantly reminded of how wealthy people are living in luxury or jetting around the world on holiday?

Sometimes it feels as though they are rubbing salt in the wounds of ordinary people. They spare no thought of working-class people who are struggling to pay bills and don’t know if they can afford to eat.

Philip J Woodhall

Address Supplied

Rod’s right about Labour

Rod Stewart’s suggestion that the Conservatives make way for a Labour government is not necessarily a call for a general election. In the first half of the twentieth century, it was not unusual to have a change of government without such an election. Nor was it unknown for the party in government to hold fewer seats than the opposition.

All that Rishi Sunak would need to do is advise his majesty to invite Sir Keir Starmer to form a government. Conservative MPs would then abstain except to block an early dissolution of parliament.

What is there to hold the prime minister back? Does he see anything coming down the track which is likely to restore his popularity in the next couple of years? Do the Tories, who have long promoted home “ownership” founded upon debt, really want to be in office during a property price crash? Giving the public this “try before you buy” option on the Labour alternative may be the best hope open to him.

John Riseley

North Yorkshire