Letters to the Editor – week ending 23 August 2026

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

Another brilliant leader from Emma today: spot on, well-argued, inspirational.

I also enjoyed the piece on foreign nationals and council housing, but…. welcome though attacks on the Tories and their race-to-the-bottom with Reform may be, the kind of nuance that Emma always shows would have been welcome as well. The desperate state of social housing is also down to the policies of the Blair era, when housing was left to the market, as an asset, rather than as a home, with predictable results.

Among many others, I had hoped that 2008 would prove a turning point, rejecting the neo-liberal model for its obvious failings, but, as we know, things only got worse, so hurrah for a Labour Party than now finally recognises that it must change for real, not the fantasies of the Corbyn era, nor the empty managerialism of the Starmer years, but is working well towards a model that can get democratic support.

Elizabeth Barnard

*****

The new prime minister believes in devolution. So why not use the recently established Regional Development Banks and Sovereign Funds.

Wales and Scotland should be given approval by the Treasury to issue 30 year bonds sufficient to fund all new major capital projects up to 49% to buy shares in all these essential services and new assets.

I understood that the Welsh Development Fund borrowing does not add to the Treasury National debt. It is a different Welsh National debt and by buying shares instead of offering subsidies, the shares are a regional long term income generating asset. It is known as State Capitalism and corporatisation and is a great success in Norway and other socially advanced nations including Singapore (through state owned land). 

Terry W Scales

*****

The article ‘Under Labour, the NHS must treat overseas nurses as professionals – not numbers’ prompted me to write.

There is a general recognition that there is a crisis in NHS Dentistry Provision across many parts of the country, but there is no shortage of dentists that would justify this crises.

The Financial Times reported in December 2025, that in December 2024 there were c.8000 foreign qualified dentists on the waiting list to take the two-part General Dental Council (GDC) overseas registration exam. In 2025 there were 350, or 4% of such dentists, who took the GDC exams. 

We should be asking how is our Government going to ensure that these skilled professionals are speedily processed by the GDC and engaged in NHS dentistry provision in our communities.

Cllr Ramsay Ross

Rutland CC

*****

Hi all

I was driven to  write about trans issues although I am not trans. I have a family member that is though.

I attended Colchester pride last Saturday and I had applied as the CLP LGBT+ Officer for a stand for the Labour Party. After a long wait and then chasing them up I received a standard, legal letter declining our application for a stall as it was felt that our values were not compatible with the LGBT+ communities values.

We have had stalls at Colchester Pride in the past and we have had no problems. However clearly we are no longer in step with the LGBT+ community and I know that as I am a lesbian and I know that many of my LGBT+ friends have left the Labour Party and it is almost a witch hunt if I mention the works Labour Party, unless it is in a derogatory way so often I don’t speak about the LP with them any more.

This is extremely sad as it allows Reform to pick up votes as Labour are becoming less visible, often derided and ridiculed and a clear shift is going to the Green Party.

The Green Party do not have enough significant mainstream support to challenge as a National Government in 2 years time. So how do we realign the Labour Party with our LGBT+ siblings?

What bathroom a trans woman or man can use is becoming too divisive and does it really matter, We all need to pee and cubicles are self-contacted. At Colchester Pride all the toilets were marked gender neutral and the “mens” toilets just said urinals available. So you knew when you walked in that a man may be peeing, if  I was desperate for a wee and sometimes I am I can avert my eyes to get the relief I need.

As for the risk to cis gendered women from trans women, I personally know many trans women and I as a cis gendered woman I have never ever felt them to be a threat to me even though quite a lot of them do identify as lesbians. A group of trans women or men together can get quite loud but so can a group of cis man and cis women or lesbians or gay men. When people find their tribe they are often quite animated and excited.

What can we do to get the recent rulings changed back to something that was widely accepted as usual and working, from something that is hurting trans people, trans allies, the majority of the LGBT+ community and their Allies and also the Labour Party.

Pauline Bacon
Colchester CLP LGBT+ Officer and TULO Officer      

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