John Harris says the “best politicians … tell us not just where we all are, but also what our position means and where we need to go next” (Where’s Jeremy Corbyn? Lost in a vision of Labour’s past, 25 June). However, what if the politicians simply don’t have a clue what to do for the best, as is obviously the case with Brexit?
Surely we should have learned by now that there is sometimes a very high price to pay for overconfident politicians responding to demands for “action” over intractable problems? In particular, I’m thinking of David Cameron’s promise to hold the in/out referendum in the first place. Ed Miliband wisely said that it was too important an issue to use for party political advantage; he wasn’t rewarded for his caution. Jeremy Corbyn is right to keep his powder dry over Brexit. He may be tacitly admitting that he doesn’t have all the answers, but isn’t that the healthy opposite of populism?
Joe McCarthy
Dublin
• With 100,000 others I marched in London on Saturday to call for a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal, alongside Lib Dems, Greens, Labour party supporters and – yes – even some decent Tories. At the rally afterwards, speaker after speaker hammered home that the only way to defeat Brexit will be through a “popular front” of people from all sides coming together to demand a second vote. Loud chants of “Where’s Jeremy Corbyn” rang out from all sides, including from plenty of Labour supporters and party members like myself who feel betrayed by the lack of any lead from him.
Given this, it’s utterly depressing to read statements from sources in a Momentum offshoot group set up to persuade Corbyn to rethink (Pro-Corbyn group begins campaign for ‘people’s vote’ on EU deal, 25 June) like “Labour members are overwhelmingly on the left and will never be won over by centrist MPs or a cross-party alliance that includes Tories … This is about making sure … a Corbyn government can succeed.”
In other words, in the end preserving ideological purity and protecting Corbyn takes precedence over building a nationwide movement to defeat hard Brexit. It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic and potentially disastrous for the country.
Tim Barrow
London
• John Harris states that the Labour party lacks thinktanks able to develop detailed policies. This is not the case: Labour has a number of specialised socialist societies actively engaged in research and policy discussions over issues of education, health, environment, housing etc. Before the advent of New Labour these societies were recognised as the main source of policy development in their areas. The Socialist Educational Association, for example, met regularly with shadow cabinet members and usually moved the main education motion at annual conference.
However, since the setting up of Labour’s national policy forum, the socialist societies have had no recognised role, despite bringing together a wide range of those involved in their areas – for example, in education, teachers, parents, academic researchers, educational psychologists, statisticians, classroom assistants, councillors and governors. The SEA, along with the other socialist societies, is developing strategies and detailed policies in the belief that the Labour party needs the help of its thinktanks to prepare for power. The party urgently needs to create a structure to make use of their expertise and commitment to socialist principles.
Margaret Morris
Vice-president, SEA
• John Harris’s spot-on article sums up all that we – family and many friends, all Labour voters – are feeling, ie despair at the Labour party’s inability to trounce this incompetent government. The reason is clear to all of us: Jeremy Corbyn is not and never will be a true leader.
So why not acknowledge this and let John McDonnell or Emily Thornberry or Keir Starmer shout out loud so that doubters can hear: “We deplore but respect the referendum result and will prioritise minimising the impact by staying in the customs union and the single market to protect our industry and security.
“We are proud of our inheritance as the party that created the welfare state and pledge to return to it with policies of creating a safety net from poverty and homelessness, reinstating Sure Start programmes as the most effective way to help put children on a level playing field, welcoming immigrants who can contribute so much but being firm about illegal immigration. And yes this can be funded from increased taxation and most of all from increased government borrowing.”
Roosevelt saved the US with his programmes – why can we not remember and emulate that?
Alison Watson
London
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