Should Corbyn oust the non-believers or welcome them back into the shadow Cabinet?

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Jeremy Corbyn has silenced many of his critics within Labour after the general election result (Getty)

Jeremy Corbyn has a complex call on drawing up his new shadow cabinet (“Don’t break up 'winning’ shadow cabinet team, John McDonnell warns”) and it will certainly be a high-risk strategy inviting back those who’ve been so disloyal to him previously. Does he invite back Benn, Cooper, Eagle, Miliband, Umunna and try to reassure centrist voters in order to get over the line next time; or does he stick with a winning team of shadow ministers who’ve been loyal to him and are deeply trustworthy?

One possible master stroke would be to offer much-respected Green MP Caroline Lucas a post in his shadow environment team. This would at once help to assuage those post-tribalist Greens who generously stood down in the election to enable Labour and Lib Dem candidates to beat incumbent Tory MPs; and it would also be a harbinger for left-progressives working together in future to lock out right-wing Tory governments from power. Some three thousand people have already signed on online petition urging Corbyn to make this appointment.

Dr Richard House Stroud

European views on Brexit provide enlightening insight

After voting early last Thursday’s election my wife and I caught a plane to Copenhagen for a long weekend away. It wasn’t a conscious move to avoid the usual wall to wall coverage of the event post vote as our trip was booked well in advance of Theresa May’s snap election call but I admit that the coincidental opportunity to distance ourselves from yet another 12 hour marathon with the fly-swatting Dimbleby and his cohorts was most welcomed.

Imagine our surprise therefore that upon arrival in Denmark the first channel that appeared on the hotel room’s TV was an in-depth Danish news programme avidly tracking events as they unfolded in the UK and even though the programme had no English sub-titles it was all too clear that we were witnessing yet another seismic shift in the UK’s political landscape.

What interested me most however was the level of Danish interest in UK’s affairs and later on in conversation with some Danes in a bar when we found ourselves (as “Remainers”) apologising for the Brexit debacle, their reaction was not one of derision or amusement but genuine puzzlement even concern at the path the British public had elected to take. A similar conversation about a month ago with some French friends also produced the same bewilderment at the UK’s apparent desperation to relinquish the EU and pull up the drawbridge.

There is no getting away from the fact that almost a year since the referendum vote we are no nearer to understanding what the better future is for the UK. Whatever deal is brokered it cannot be better than the one we already have and in the complete absence of a coherent alternative scenario to membership of the EU it is no surprise that our European friends are scratching their heads over the issue.

As the political and business grandees continue to wrangle over the options for a hard or soft Brexit maybe we should simply take the view of a Danish guy in the bar that night who quipped “maybe you should just change your minds and stay in”. He’s right, there is that option and this election has signalled a shift which in the ensuing political meltdown could see such a scenario back on the table. One thing is certain, the 48 per cent are not for turning while I suspect some of the 52 per cent might be!

Jerry Wells ​Essex

So much needs to change if the Conservatives are to be taken seriously again

In reference to Ashley Cowburn’s article “What policies will change after Theresa May’s humiliating election result?” that I have read with great interest, I find major faults: namely the neglect of youth.

I do not think any party, from now on, will be elected if they ignore the population and specifically the youth. The Liberals found that, after they reneged to their promises in respect of the fees, maintenance, loans etc. Eventually youth has abandoned them.

Now, we have Labour giving away sweeties and attracting massively academia and students. It has been reported in the media that new voters entered the foray of politics in droves. Unless the Conservatives do not pull the carpet from under the feet of Labour, they are facing an impetus that is unstoppable.

The same could be said about services.

I am puzzled about the attitude of the Conservative Government, pre-election, that basically said to the electorate “we shall screw you and Labour is giving away things that were not theirs”.

The result is just because the whole attitude was not right. I believe there is time for changes more than indicated in the article.

B Bastounis West Wickham

Who is paying for the election?

If there is no magic money tree where did the estimated £170m spent on the vanity project, that Theresa May chooses to call a general election, come from?

Chris Elshaw Headley Down

Party leaders need to adopt new leadership styles

The UK has entered a downward spiral of political delusion, which could be reversed by a dynamic change in leadership style – such as appears to be happening in France – in which the stifling limitations engendered by focus on petty party politics are put aside, and this does necessarily mean another inconclusive election.

The key factor is statesmanship where the leader first listens and then plans a future for the greatest benefit to all, whatever the cost and hardship to get there, and is convincing and trustworthy enough to get the majority to follow them.

Matt Minshall King's Lynn

Boris Johnson has been made to look like a good option after this election debacle

Cheer Up!

David Cameron and Theresa May make Boris Johnson look like a safe pair of hands!

Philip Morgan Address supplied

Theresa May should be applauded for motivating the youth

Theresa May wanted a clear mandate to negotiate a hard Brexit to please the extreme right fringes of her party and a disunited United Kingdom has spoken.

Conservative Blue has taken a very marked shade of Purple, and vote results and polls indicate that a non-negligible number of moderate Conservatives have deserted the party.

But the alarm bells must be deafening at Conservatives HQ not because a few moderate votes have been lost but because Theresa May has managed to motivate the younger generations of the country out of their lethargy and vote for Labour in droves, which any political pundit would agree is no mean feat.

For the Brexit vote in 2016, young people were more interested in the Glastonbury festival and leaving the EU seemed a distant and inconsequential item on their agenda.

This is no longer the case and the Conservatives should pay serious attention and change course on Brexit pronto, otherwise they will be warming the Opposition benches until the next generation (or two) comes along.

Antero Touchard Madrid