Letters to the Editor – week ending 17 May 2026

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

Return of the Starmtroopers

I completely agree with Luke Akehurst’s piece and I am sure many other ‘silent majority ‘ members do too.

If Sir Keir Starmer is forced out by these unthinking rebels, driven by personal ambition alone, I would have to consider whether to continue my membership and the answer would probably be not.

Alison Harrop (Dr) 

*****

Hi Emma, Just to say that I am backing Starmer all the way. He is the

best PM we have had for decades. Disgusted with Streeting and Burnham. 

Both just out for themselves.

Sue Wood

*****

Dear Emma,

As a Labour member who canvassed for our Party ahead of the 2024 general election, I remember the promise we made to voters: that we would learn the lessons of Conservative Party infighting and regicides, and that providing the stability the UK so desperately needs would take priority given how critical it is to deliver the change the country so desperately needs.

Our former Health Secretary, and around 90 other Labour MPs, appear to have forgotten that they made this promise – and that it forms part of the very mandate that they were elected on. I am absolutely appalled and frustrated that less than two years since Labour won the general election, a significant number of Labour MPs appear desperate to hand the victory of the next election to Nigel Farage.

It was meant to be country first, party second, but both seem to have been trumped again by the personal ambitions of people who were elected to deliver change for the country. This blatant disregard for our democratic procedures will come back to haunt them. Should a leadership contest be triggered, anyone other than Keir Starmer entering it should remember that they lack the mandate of the electorate. I have no doubt they will be reminded at the ballot box in 2029.

I hope that the rest of the Cabinet and Keir Starmer hold their nerve, and get on with the job they were elected to do. There are still things Starmer can do – for instance, cancelling any time set aside for Private Members Bills to advance passing critical pieces of legislation, such as the NHS Modernisation Bill, the Energy Independence Bill or the Regulating for Growth Bill. We require bold action now, not displays of personal ambition as shown by our former Health Secretary.

Anyone who genuinely thinks that a leadership contest would bring any improvement to the situation of the Labour Party, or the country as a whole, is deluded. The only way for the Labour Government to find a way out of this crisis is getting on with the job by showing some backbone and discipline by putting the country first.

Best wishes,

Maike Erb

*****

The cardinal sin in politics for a political party,  let alone a Government, is to be disunited. These local and regional elections unleashed a profound shift in how ordinary voters, more than usual for local elections, see their future with the mainstream parties. It is to the vast discredit of the Labour Party that it has failed to put the needs of the populace first. The naked, self serving ambition of so many willing to plunge the knife into the Prime Minister is quite sickening. This is the man who led the previously unelectable Labour Party to electoral success beyond their wildest dreams. To blame him for the collective failure of the Government to deliver policies which can be supported by the majority is reprehensible.

Dear Labour list

I desperately want Labour to be able to stay in power to make clear steps to change before the next election and the latest figures on growth and gdp show this change is beginning to happen.  

Moreover I really don’t want to see  a  change of  leader. Whoever is chosen won’t win support from the press, even if a number of Labour MPs support them. I fear this is about some key people’s egos, not the good of the country. Starmer was elected to govern for five years. He should be allowed to do just that. 

With best wishes

Naomi Karslake

*****

I have been a Labour voter for 40 plus years, but with the world is in such a state with all the conflicts going on, I have to say that with only being in power for couple of years, the party has done a lot of good things for the UK. But it seems to be that Labour is becoming just like the Conservatives – change leaders when things get a little tough. If A.Burnham, A.Rayner or W. Streeting become leader, I and a few other voters will not be voting Labour in an election. We can’t understand how one person can be blamed for the problems that caused such a large loss in the local elections. There are too many people in the party blaming the PM when they all decided on what policies to push forward. So stop the infighting.

Gary Laver

*****

Dear LabourList,

I am no fan of Starmer but a change in leadership won’t get us anywhere especially when there’s no real alternative. 

Paul Hume

Labour Member 

Bellingham Branch

*****

I will be leaving the labour party if they force out Starmer via an immediate leadership challenge. It is madness in the current political climate.

Cheers 

Peter McAleer 

*****

I am very disappointed. A member for nearly half a century, last week for the first time ever was not able to vote Labour as nobody stood in my ward. It’s a no hoper ,as I know, having stood myself numerous times.

Now I am treated to the sight of the party knocking lumps out of each other in the most public fashion. It would be bad enough if there was some policy debates but I have yet to hear of any specifics. I predict that Reform will win the Makersfield by election and the next General election. Well done Wes, Andy,  Angela et al I dare say you will still have enough 

houses, lobbying jobs and various platforms to soften the blow.   

Trevor Hopper

*****

Dear Emma,

I think part of the problem is a large majority and an ineffective opposition.  This removes the threat that would make a governing party cohesive.  It follows that the news media need to report conflict to gain readers or viewers.  If His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition cannot provide the conflict, it will be sought elsewhere, either in the government or outside parliament.

Yours fraternally

Mike Hudson

*****

It’s the economy…

The fundamental discrepancy between Keir Starmer’s current Secureonomics approach and Tony Blair’s 1997 New Labour framework lies in the starkly contrasting economic foundations of their respective eras.

The central argument remains that developing a cautious, centrist, pro-market strategy requires the fiscal headroom generated by a booming economy. Attempting the same strategy during an era of structural stagnation leaves the government vulnerable to internal division, market instability and public dissatisfaction –  which has just happened during the worst local elections for a governing party since 1995.

Disillusionment from voters towards the Labour government’s rehashed policies of New Labour has left the PM with the embarrassment of Corbynism not being Labour’s achilles heel because it was the clear principles and authenticity of a 2017 Corbynism radical manifesto that was needed during the cost of living crises of the 2026 local elections.

Theoretically a more radical Labour government needs to introduce a national Inflation Reduction Act to help tackle the cost of living crises through a 2% annual tax on UK household wealth exceeding £10 million which could raise 22 billion per year to generate significant revenue to help fund our public services like healthcare; and to reinstate Labour’s 28 billion green prosperity plan which will allow 19 million homes insulation target to reduce energy bills as part of the inflation reduction act.

Reforming an outdated and regressive council tax system based on 1991 property valuations would allow the shifting of green levies from flat rate general taxation onto a redesigned, progressive local property tax that instantly lowers energy costs for lower income households.

 The Inflation Reduction Act could be expanded by equalising Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax to generate the funds for a National Care Service and fund care sector pay rises which have been hit by inflationary pressures from global supply chain shocks, while equalising CGT would end the deregulation of investors shifting their income into the lower tax brackets of CGT which would end a care worker or nurse paying more tax than the rich.

Rob Collins

*****

Dear LabourList,

I feel that we have lost the hope of the middle working population. The fiscal drag of extending the 20% income tax threshold is not fit for the lower or middle income population. This needs to be increased to a level befitting socialist policies and increasing top level income percentages to offset lost tax revenue.

I’ve also seen vat increase from 15% to the now current level of 20%, seriously dampening people’s desire to spend their hard earned income. More tax on corporation profits, not people’s ability to spend on essential items is needed.

Resetting these levels will increase people’s consumer growth and hope that Labour is working for them!

Regards, 

Paul Seaby