Labour’s U-turns might seal the deal with the electorate

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

It is unfair to accuse Labour of flip-flopping; they are taking pragmatic steps in light of the developing Conservative fiasco (PA Wire)

Keir Starmer is absolutely right to ditch the £28bn green energy policy.

Liz Truss and her friends crashed the economy thanks to six weeks of mind-boggling madness.

Yet even some of them have chosen not to face the music at the next general election.

If the polls are right, Labour will win and where the party previously had a reputation for high tax and spending, recent manoeuvres by Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, have proven that change has taken place. One of the final pieces of the jigsaw that is the party manifesto has finally been put in place.

Has it sealed the deal with the electorate?

I think it has and that as a result the coming months will see a gradual meltdown of the Conservatives, a serious loss of troop numbers after the local elections, and ultimately a final result not seen at a general election since Tony Blair and the original New Labour in 1997.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant

A justified approach

It is unfair to accuse Labour of flip-flopping. In my opinion, they are taking pragmatic steps in light of the developing Conservative fiasco that they will inherit. By the time they take charge, they will have very little money to fund anything and they are politically constrained to avoid tax increases.

However, in such circumstances, I believe it would be morally and economically justified to raise borrowing to invest in green initiatives, despite the adverse reaction to Liz Truss’s previous uninformed foolishness.

I would argue that borrowing to fund green investment is still the right approach as it would promote sustainable growth while improving our Earth’s future, with the added bonus of improved self-reliance on energy. And we have headroom for additional borrowing when compared with many other developed countries.

It is a far cry from Truss’s trickle-down lunacy.

Tim Sidaway

Hertfordshire

Rwanda’s ripple effect

The prime minister is right to celebrate the return of power-sharing in Northern Ireland which collapsed due to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, but alongside its clear moral shortcomings, Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan will introduce new instability by allowing the UK government to disregard international law written into the Good Friday Agreement.

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill is also based on legal fiction, which creates a precedent to undermine the rule of law by skewing the separation of powers.

The bill is currently in the House of Lords and is set to return to the Commons by the middle of March. Members of both chambers must oppose this plan to ensure political stability in Northern Ireland and protect Britain’s reputation in the world as a reliable and law-abiding partner.

Maria Kapari

Cornwall

Look who’s back

When he first came to office 15 months ago, Rishi Sunak claimed that he would govern with “integrity, professionalism and accountability”, marking a clear break from the behaviour of his immediate predecessors. Now, having been tremendously crass and insensitive in his comments regarding transgender people while the mother of murdered teen Brianna Ghey was actually present in parliament, he refuses to apologise and insists that he has done nothing wrong.

Not saying sorry and refusing to take responsibility, huh? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…

Julian Self

Milton Keynes