The word “Brexit” rears its head just once in Polly Toynbee’s Panglossian assessment of Labour’s prospects (Labour has shelves of winning policies. Now the party must get people to listen, 12 April). The party’s policy, or non-policy, on Brexit is deeply cynical, deeply flawed, and liable to prove utterly disastrous at the next election. Cynical, because no one believes that it truly reflects the personal views of Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet on our relationship to the EU. Labour canvassers such as myself, who don’t understand it, will be either unable or unwilling to defend it on the doorstep.
Its stance will completely unravel if Starmer and his colleagues cannot offer coherent, agreed solutions to the many visible disasters of Brexit – NHS staffing crises, rising food prices, plummeting exports and trade, lorry queues at Dover, etc.
I had high hopes of Starmer when he became leader. Facing up to Brexit realities is an instance of national interest coinciding with that of the opposition. Confronting the Tories over their Brexit lies does not mean telling voters that they were foolish or gullible to believe them. But if Labour fails to pick up these “ripe plums” at the next election, then the obvious question, to paraphrase a recent one by Starmer, is: “What is Labour for”?
Derek Robinson
Matlock, Derbyshire
• Polly Toynbee is correct in her assertion that “a few chosen beacons to illuminate the way” are needed if Labour is to do enough to win the next general election. The shadow cabinet is full of competent, experienced people ready for government. But we only have to look around the world to be concerned about how the centre and left is currently viewed.
In France, Emmanuel Macron is facing possible defeat by the right; Imran Khan has been ousted in Pakistan, and it may not be long before the lukewarm Democrats led by Joe Biden are challenged again by a resurgent Donald Trump.
Here, Boris Johnson won a significant majority and is still relatively safe despite a succession of misjudgments, indiscretions and blunders. Competent though Keir Starmer’s Labour might be, it is still stalked from within by the ghost of the failed Corbyn experiment. If Labour is to win, it must remain calm, credible and cohesive. Starmer is an experienced lawyer and knows the value of peaking at the right time. We have come too far now not to trust his judgment.
Toby Wood
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
• Polly Toynbee says Labour’s slogan, “On your side”, is OK. However, with its projected vote share still only about 5% above that of the Tories, the message is clearly not reaching those who will decide the next general election. After 12 years of austerity and now a cost-of-living crisis, people need to hear that there is indeed a realistic and fairer alternative, and be given hope. At every opportunity, those speaking for Labour should preface every interview with: “It doesn’t have to be like this. Labour will…”
Harold Mozley
York
• Polly Toynbee laments the lack of a single clear message that Labour can proclaim as a core principle and beacon of hope. How about “Fair play and decency”?
Roger Woodhouse
Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
• Polly Toynbee’s excellent catalogue of worthy policies might be summarised by “Help Labour make life fair”.
Alan Bailey
London
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