There is much that is true in Larry Elliott’s appraisal (Brexit, the environment, energy bills … it’s hard to tell Labour and Tory policies apart, 1 June). What is beyond doubt is that Keir Starmer’s Labour and the Tories have moved to positions and policies that very few people, other than mega-rich, rightwing media moguls, agree on.
The latest polls show that Brexit has failed, with consequences far worse than the most pessimistic of us feared. The botched and detrimental privatisation of public utilities, the obscenity that is “outsourcing”, the creeping ruin of our NHS, and the desperate conditions of people in the private rented sector are not being addressed by either party.
We expect the Tories to be heartless wreckers, but who on earth does Starmer think he is appealing to? This consensus of despair and futility is not a good thing for Britain.
Martin Coult
London
• When the two major parties are too close for comfort, it discourages any real debate on economic policy. When both parties agree the priority is to reduce the budget deficit, it means a commitment to continued austerity and wage restraint in the public sector. Do voters really want a continuation of the situation where schools and hospitals remain underfunded and are haemorrhaging staff? Why is the option of better funding for both not a priority for Labour?
Both parties seem committed to retaining the light-touch regulation of privatised utilities, leaving the water companies free to continue polluting our waterways. Both are committed to leaving private sector wealth untouched by tax, so denying government the resources necessary to finance a radical rebuilding of the economy.
What appears to mainstream Westminster thinking as realist economic policymaking, elsewhere appears as anything but. It’s a ducking of the major and contentious issues that should dominate Westminster debate. Doesn’t this tired acceptance of things as they are suggest that time is up for these two parties, if all they can offer is a stifling of debate on those matters that are of most concern to voters?
Derrick Joad
Leeds
• Larry Elliott’s logic is inescapable. There is a growing consensus between Labour and some Tories on economic issues. What a sad and inadequate offering to a public experiencing increasing poverty and alienation, a climate crisis and the threat of AI. A reworking of the economics of the past will not cut it. We need radical economic visionaries who will put the needs of people and planet at the centre.
Lyn A Dade
London
• Larry Elliott’s claim that it is difficult to tell current Tory and Labour policies apart is unconvincing. Unless, that is, he is arguing that the Tories, like Labour, are also committed to achieving 100% clean energy by 2030; the complete cessation of further oil and gas extraction; the ending of privatised rail franchises as they expire; an extension of basic employment rights from day one including banning zero-hours contracts; the creation of a national social care service; the abolition of non-dom status and investing revenue from doing so in lower energy costs; renegotiating and improving the Brexit deal; abolishing the House of Lords; new devolved powers to the regions; and reinvestment in public services? If so, no one else was aware of this.
John Medhurst
Executive director, Labour Research Department
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