John McDonnell makes a very important point by brandishing Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book in parliament (McDonnell throws the (Mao) book, 26 November). George Osborne is not just enabling the Chinese state to own British state assets. He is actually subsidising Chinese state enterprises to do so, as well as structuring UK public sector contracts in such a way as to favour the Chinese. What’s more, with recent Chinese engagement in energy, he is effectively selling to China future UK tax revenues.
Nick Matthews
Rugby, Warwickshire
• Put aside the Red Book and instead concentrate on the real political issue. Do we think it’s in Britain’s best interests that swathes of our national infrastructure should be sold to foreign investors, be they companies or countries? Already we cannot plan for economic growth as we might wish because foreign multinationals own much of our business and industry, and, as we have discovered with our steel plants, the government cannot stop them when they choose to walk away leaving behind a trail of economic and social devastation. Our nuclear power industry is being upgraded with Chinese funding, but at what cost to our independence and security? Furthermore, just imagine the possibilities for economic or political blackmail if George Osborne sells air traffic control to one of his new friends. Whether or not the Little Red Book was a good idea, John Mc Donnell was absolutely right on the key issue to castigate the Tories for their plans to further sell off of our essential infrastructure.
Margaret Parker
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
• Sometimes the Labour leadership brings me close to tears. All that John McDonnell needed to point out – as Jonathan Freedland so clearly does (Hypothetical windfall down the back of the Treasury’s sofa allowed the chancellor to play Santa Claus, 26 November) – is that the whole of the chancellor’s so-called strategy is imprudently based on a forecast which following previous predictions is likely to be flawed. There is no need for Red Books or other stunts. The government is financially irresponsible in the extreme. Why, oh why, can’t Labour just say this?
David Hawkins
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
• For everyone watching the chancellor’s statement, John McDonnell’s Red Book reference was clearly a joke and, as the only remnant of what used to be a relatively intellectually sound press, I would hope that the Guardian would recognise this, dismiss it as such, and instead focus on the actual details of what he said. He is saying important things and, since no one else will, it is on the Guardian that its readers rely for an objective, sensible coverage, rather than a sensationalist one. McDonnell, which should be clear from the impressive economic advisory committee he has convened, has some very interesting things to say, and they must be heard in the Guardian if nowhere else. Blairism is dead and even if wasn’t, the chancellor would have colonised it with the rest of the centre-right. Move on with your readers.
George Houghton
London
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