• Your article (Keir Starmer considers scaling back Labour’s £28bn green plans, 22 December) says: “Others in the party, however, want Labour to be ambitious and stick to its original £28bn pledge.” Britain is in a dreadful situation after 13 years of Tory mis-government. The public services are in a ruinous state; industries that have been privatised are failing. The country needs a person of integrity, vision and presence to lead Britain towards the kindly, efficient and flourishing country it could and should be. Keir Starmer has the qualities, the experience, sense of values and humanity to be that person.
Yet he’s timorous, afraid that Rishi Sunak has begun to “weaponise” this “major Labour spending commitment”. Let Sunak weaponise the subject as much as he likes, Keir, but stick to your guns. Sunak is wrong, wrong and out of his depth, grasping at anything in his desperation to keep power.
If Keir Starmer wins the next election he will have the opportunity to rebuild Britain.
David Curtis
Solihull, West Midlands
• The suggestion that Labour is considering further watering down its so-called green policies in order to “neutralise” Tory attacks is deeply depressing. The mere idea that such a ludicrous government that retains not a scintilla of respect or credibility has some kind of embargo on another party’s policies that are essential to meet the environmental and economic challenges simply brings into stark relief the malign, stultifying and reactionary effect of our sclerotic political system. Liz Truss was mocked as a lettuce; if Starmer can’t stand up to this “threat” then he surely deserves to be ridiculed as a chocolate fireguard.
Neil Blackshaw
Alnwick, Northumberland
• I see that Labour is planning to ditch its commitment to address global heating and a sluggish economy. It seems that whenever under attack from the Tories and their friends and paymasters, Labour backs off for fear of losing votes. What exactly is Labour for? I don’t want headbangers of the left any more than headbangers of the right, but what I do want is some national leadership from Sir Keir Starmer, not just party leadership, especially for such an existential matter as climate change, never mind the cost of energy to households and businesses. I don’t recall such tentativeness from Tony Blair or Harold Wilson, for all their shortcomings.
John Filby
Ashover, Derbyshire
• Labour’s retreat on green policies confirms how difficult it will be to change people’s behaviour, even to protect the planet. As we saw with the minor issues surrounding the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone scheme in London, there will always be people opposed to the changes if they are affected. And in this case they were opposing policies aimed at reducing pollution to improve their own air!
The Tories quite successfully opposed the plans, which encouraged more extreme people to vandalise cameras and equipment, all because a few thousand people would have to scrap their old, highly polluting bangers.
So unless we can develop hard green policies with the agreement of at least the main parties, change will not happen. And even then there will be other groups ready to fight change.
David Reed
London
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