Labour has forgotten its voters

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Corbyn launches his fight to hold on to the Labour leadership (PA)

As someone who has voted Labour in every election since 1990, I find myself surveying the current political scene in a state of despair. It seems that we, the Labour voters, the ones who are needed if the Party is ever to come to power, have been completely forgotten in the current debacle. We are mere spectators of a show of in-fighting and point scoring by those on the left, who have, in concentrating their fire on each other, reverted to type. Meanwhile Theresa May, who has cleverly adopted the language of a progressive social reformer, looks and acts like a serious, international politician.

Let us not forget that the majority of people in this country do not want a Tory government. However, neither are we interested in squabbling politicos, too focused on their own battles to be able to offer real-world solutions or to hold the government to account. Labour is failing the country so badly at this time it is a disgrace. We need someone who can offer a credible alternative to the mythical "blue-collar conservatism" and who is capable of more than preaching to the converted. Such people exist in the experienced ranks of former Labour ministers; it's a shame none of them can summon up the courage to stand for leader.

Ian Richards

Birmingham

To secondhand-quote Bertolt Brecht: "Why do we not just dissolve the people and elect another one?" In disenfranchising 130,000 of its own members by preventing them from voting in the Labour leadership contest, the party, far from being a beacon of free speech, democratic values and egalitarianism, appears to be morphing into a caricature of itself.

Hilary Ben saw no irony in taking to Twitter to talk about the Turkey coup and extol the virtues of democracy, while similarly announcing he will give his support to whoever wins the forthcoming leadership contest, with the exception of Corbyn.

Labour's right wing have stooped to things that even the Tories, the supposedly "nasty party", wouldn't do. They put gaining control of the party ahead of capitalising on a Conservative Party split down the middle. It was more important than standing up for junior doctors, whose contracts are now being forced on them by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Removing Corbyn was held in higher regard than one of the biggest political moments of a generation. Fighting to ensure the interests of ordinary people during the chaos of Brexit came second place to seizing the Labour party leadership.

As a sign of how right-wing Labour has become, Owen Smith says it’s radical to put tackling inequality at the heart of Labour’s mission. He plans to create a "radical but credible movement" – but only one the Tory press will approve of. Ahead of the 2015 election, when shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, he refused to commit to getting rid of Work Capability Tests for sick and disabled welfare claimants.

Smith also abstained on the 2015 Welfare Bill, as did Angela Eagle and all the rest of the MPs who resigned to topple Corbyn. Abstaining is certainly not opposing austerity. The refusal to oppose austerity is in fact a tacit approval. If you’re supposed to be challenging the Conservatives in government, and you don’t oppose their core economics, you serve to legitimise them.

The breakaway Party that is planned, should Corbyn win the leadership contest, one backed by businesses and corporations and not necessarily the unions, is a true reflection of the Blairite ideology. Overall, that would be more honest, as these MPs are clearly not actually left-wing.

Jess Phillips MP is wrong: it isn't Corbyn who is damaging Labour, it is Blairite MPs like her. The organisation that used to represent the working class is now essentially a vehicle for corporate interests. Labour has become a party without any vision, values or plan, other than to remain part of the status quo.

Julie Partridge

London SE15

Change your perspective on Brexit

Since there has been no tangible economic catastrophe or political cataclysm following the majority decision to leave the European Union, it is right to celebrate the restoration of British constitutional sovereignty and legal autonomy. Instead of dwelling on the spurious doom-laden narratives pedalled by pecuniary groups such as the IMF, World Bank, the EU, the US and other vested elites, the British public should enthusiastically embrace the new dawn of Brexit.

Not only will a post-EU Britain regain its global independence but it can also foster greater international stability. In a world where the US, Russia, China and the EU are currently major players, a post-Brexit UK can evolve into an equally effective power bloc with the revival and strengthening of the British Commonwealth. By capitalising on historic and cultural links with its former imperial possessions, this New Commonwealth – with its 2 billion strong population and swiftly emerging markets – can become a viable alternative or indeed complementary to the declining European single market.

By establishing free trade or zero tariff deals with each of the 53 nations of the Commonwealth, the UK will be in the driving seat, not only to secure its own economic interests, but also in contributing to significant progress and development in its former colonies. Upon entering the EU, Britain foolishly downgraded its relations with the Commonwealth. That disastrous shortsighted decision needs to be reversed immediately for the indisputable mutual benefit of both parties. Brexit now makes it possible to rejuvenate the political, social, commercial and other dimensions of a re-energised Britain and an eagerly awaiting Commonwealth. This, surely, is a win-win situation for all.

T Hargey

Director, Muslim Education Centre of Oxford

Commentators and journalists keep labelling Britain leaving the EU as a divorce, as if after triggering article 50, we will be discussing who will get the dog and the Captain Beefheart albums, and eventually we will be able to meet at a cocktail party and be polite!

This entirely misrepresents what is going to happen. Brexit is going to be a complex, surgical operation to separate conjoined twins, and there will be difficult decisions as to who gets the only kidney, and who sacrifices a limb. The EU and Britain are so joined that this operation will leave both disabled, but the stronger twin will have a better chance of survival, especially if it is ruthless enough.

Meg Roper

Address supplied

Isn’t Hamish McRae (“It might sound scary, but in the long-term a ‘hard Brexit’ without access to the single market could work out for the best”, 20^th July) missing one vital point? Our trade deficit with the EU will only be transferred to the rest of the world, because we either need the imported goods or refuse to do without them. Leaving the single market will merely exacerbate the overall deficit with increased tariffs.

Christopher Yaxley

Shrewsbury

There is a solution to intergenerational unfairness

I read with interest Jon Stone’s article “Millennials will earn £8,000 less in their 20s than their parents, study warns” (18^th July). It highlights the stark reality facing young people entering the job market and trying to get on the housing ladder today.

Working with the NUS*, we found almost half (46 per cent) of recent graduates receive a salary lower than they expected after graduation - two-thirds (66 per cent) are earning under £19k a year in their first year after university. When it comes to paying rent, they pay on average £480 a month (rising to £621.84 in London on average), and nearly four out of ten (37 per cent) put aside £50-£199 each month in order to attempt to get on the property ladder within the next five years.

Therefore, I echo the concerns raised by David Willetts and Torsten Bell at the Resolution Foundation – everyone is worried about the future of younger generations, because they are dealing with serious generational inequalities.

Young people leaving education today have the same fundamental aspirations as previous generations: a decent wage and a proper home; but they face unpredictable wages and a mountain to climb before they even set foot on the housing ladder. They need help from the financial services industry in collaboration with Government and industry to help them make their aspirations a reality.

Sara Newell

Head of Student & Graduate Markets at Endsleigh, London

A general election could be to May's advantage

Theresa May is enjoying a sunny honeymoon at Number Ten, but she should beware of Blue Tongue syndrome. After inheriting the mantle from Blair, Gordon Brown briefly impressed press and public by addressing a series of crises with beginner's zeal. He then threw it all away by avoiding a snap autumn election and never recovered from being labelled a "bottler".

May has a much bigger task ahead than any of her post-war predecessors. She must put Brexit on a firm timetable, save the United Kingdom from break-up and pursue her own programme of social and economic reform. To do all this on the basis of a majority of barley a dozen is political suicide. She risks her current slim majority shrinking from a mini-skirt to a fig leaf. Should a few elderly Tory MPs pop their clogs and a member of her cabinet "spend more time with his family", the PM will be left with a zombie mandate to make David Cameron's final years in office look energetic.

The wind is behind May at present. She has confounded the hacks who loathed her as Tory chairman and detested her as Home Secretary. She has emerged from a hatchet-faced chrysalis to shimmer as a scintillating uber-Thatcher who gets things done. To avoid fading like a butterfly and forge ahead with her fairness agenda, May should seriously consider a surprise general election.

With Labour years away from being a credible force again, May should take Boris off the leash, book her battle bus and strike while the new Iron Lady is hot. Without her own mandate, she could find herself quenched by a winter of flood, financial slowdown, restless public sector workers and government gridlock. It is a fate she can avoid by going to the country now, without an empty in sight on the steps of Number Ten.

Anthony Rodriguez

Staines upon Thames, Middlesex