Letters to the Editor – week ending 18th October 2026

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

Healey’s Budget

It is beyond dispute that the UK government operates a Modern Monetary Theory economy. To make any meaningful difference to people’s lives, all the government needs to do is acknowledge this fact, drop their neoliberal tendencies, like tax-to-spend, government borrowing, and austerity cuts, and use the existing economy in a way that helps people, not punishes them.

Lord John Maynard Keynes was probably the greatest economist of our time, and he understood full well how an economy works. It’s only since the weirdos from the Montpellier organisation gained traction that we’ve ended up with all the wealth up the far end of society and the bulk of us scratching around trying to exist.

Stephen Jones

*****

Vehicle taxes

In response to this article – firstly, with regards to plug in hybrids if you make the tax higher than for electric vehicles how do you deal with ones sold over the last 10-15 years – care is needed there.

Secondly, what about the BMW i3 with range extender! I think as the owner of one that paying a higher per mile figure than electric vehicles would be very unfair as with a two gallon tank and ~100 mile range on the motorway I’d expect very few weren’t mostly being used as mostly pure electric vehicles.

I also think perhaps for people where charging is difficult or not guaranteed or who suffer from range anxiety that that sort of vehicle, 100-150 mile EV range, small petrol tank – maybe 3 gallons not 2, is a good option?

Matthew Hutton

*****

Point scoring

If the public were encouraged to watch BBC Parliament instead of PMQs, they would find a great deal of cross-party collaboration aimed at national and local solutions. Select committees call out the villains, like the water bosses. The Labour Party should promote BBC Parliament viewing.

*****

The EU needs reform, but Britain is better off in

I’m writing to you in response to this article by Brendan Chilton. I’m doing so after spending significant time in Europe this past year.

Mr Chilton says that there are two stories to Brexit, but he fails to note they don’t compete: both are true. The EU has a cumbersome and inflexible structure. Leaving it has also caused the UK lasting damage.

There is no doubt the EU would benefit from administrative reform. Policies like the parliamentary migration between Strasbourg and Brussels are expensive and unnecessary. Overlapping institutions creating a burden on companies is also a real concern. However, these criticisms could also be made of the UK, for example regarding quarterly tax reporting for small businesses.

There is no doubt either that the UK has caused itself significant harm through Brexit. Foreign investment has plummeted; the UK now has more migrants entering than before, and refugees using small boats can legitimately claim asylum in the UK when they land. These are exactly the problems highlighted by the Remain coalition.

Yet Mr Chilton refutes this by claiming “many indicators” suggest the UK is performing as badly as the EU without offering any as real proof. He contends that the UK has signed agreements with 74 countries but doesn’t elaborate that the UK had to after leaving the EU. Many of these (e.g. with Australia) are written as being so favorable to the other countries that they are materially worse than the deals previously agreed while under the EU.

The UK-India agreement Mr Chilton mentions is particularly poor. Yes, it could boost GDP by nearly £5 billion. But Brexit is estimated to have cost the UK £100-250 million in lost GDP. How does Mr Chiltern reconcile this financial disparity?

Mention of the CPTPP is particularly unfortunate. The UK was required to agree to the CPTPP’s terms and conditions because it was economically dwarfed. Had it been part of the EU (yes, this would have been legislatively cumbersome), it would have been able to negotiate more favorable terms as it would have been part of a bloc larger than the CPTPP countries. The UK government’s estimates of benefits of this agreement total £2 billion, which again is a poor substitute for the economic loss caused by Brexit.

There are realities caused by Brexit that the country must acknowledge. First, no country is that interested in you. No one is desperate to sign a deal with the UK because there isn’t an awful lot the UK can offer that others don’t already have, or could get through better agreements with other countries.

Second, through Brexit, the UK has lost control of its own borders as refugees cross the Channel in small boats to exit the EU. If the UK had remained in the EU, they could have been instantly deported.

Third, the UK is dependent on foreign migration for economic growth. Finally, many of the problems within the UK that led the country to choose Brexit in the first place are endemic to the UK and not the EU. Ridiculous infrastructure cost overruns, burdensome bureaucracy, and small-town mindsets remain unabashed in England.

This is the true lesson of Brexit. The EU needs legislative reform. But the UK needs a cultural reform, and the country will not fulfill its potential until this changes. Mr Chilton would do a lot better to reflect on this while the UK benefits economically from a return to the EU.

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