Letters to the Editor – week ending 14th September 2025

Read what people have been writing to our editor about this week. Find out how to share your own views here.

And not before time…

Very glad that you are beginning this. It is frustrating to have no voice in the world of politics, especially since the newspapers have no access to public opinion these days. A letter to the editor used to be effective in days gone by!!

As a common or garden supporter, the squandering of chances to put down misunderstandings, insults and downright lies has been squirmworthy at times. It has almost seemed as if the parliamentary party contingent itself decided from the outset to undermine the party’s chances of being a force for change.

A lack of education about the way headlines, personal statements and pictures can so drastically cut any faith in the power of our party ought really to be addressed. If we do not pull together we have little chance of retaining power and worse getting another chance at it in the next decade.

All sorts of ideas have taken hold….the latest the most insidious I have heard: in the last two years women’s rights have been undermined!

Honourable politicians with the ability to remain calm and rebut false claims are badly needed.

Let us hope an atmosphere of open debate creates the climate to renew the position of the party as a platform for honesty and practical change. This should also help to forestall policy changes which immediately create their own bear traps!

Yours

Anne Robinson
Cornwall

Reset? I certainly hope so

Dear Editor,

Many of us witnessing the country’s decline under four Tory Prime Ministers from Brexit onward through chaos and crisis were desperately waiting for the return of a Labour Government. After the initial euphoria of July 2024 and the Labour landslide we were wondering what we had been waiting for? Where were the policies we needed? Instead we got gloomy economic forecasts and all that went with it the failure to lift the two child benefit cap and the winter fuel payments fiasco.

Disappointed in the Government response to atrocities in the Middle East we have seen mistake after mistake and seemingly no traditional Labour instincts. The Prime Minister’s ill judged “Island of Strangers” speech exacerbated the sad “small boat” problem and a Government intent on appeasing Reform and the Far Right instead of opposing them with progressive solutions. A large part of the problem stems from the purge of the most devout worshippers from the “Broad Church” and with it an expulsion of ideas and a narrowing of debate.

This has now ended up with the absurdity of the Metropolitan Police arresting and manhandling blind, disabled and elderly peaceful protesters at the Government’s behest.

It is sad to see this great party bereft of political nous and radical solutions. Reset? I certainly hope so.

Yours sincerely

Hedley McCarthy
Former Leader of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Response: ‘Integrity and strategy matter – lessons from the Corbyn years’

And finally…

It seems very strange that such an intelligent politician as Angela Rayner should make a basic mistake and fail to “meet the highest standards” in relation to her recent house purchase. Obviously knowing herself to be the focus of attention of every right wing newspaper and media outlet in the country, she has to have a cunning plan.