This is the big red bus all over again. The row over the Tories’ £2,000 Labour tax claim is straight out of the Dominic Cummings/Boris Johnson playbook (Reeves accuses Sunak of lying after Treasury’s warning on ‘£2,000 tax rise’ claim, 5 June). In the 2016 EU referendum, the leave campaign invented an eye-watering figure for our EU contributions and painted it on to their campaign bus. Remainers came out in force to expose the lie, publishing their reasoning far and wide; but in doing so they unwittingly propagated and disseminated the lie itself, paradoxically enhancing its impact in a society more interested in headlines than arithmetic.
I fear that we are about to make the same mistake with the Tories’ latest lie. I’d suggest that we drop the “£2,000” from future news reports and opinion pieces, focusing instead on the Tories’ well-established woeful relationship with the truth.
Neil Farquhar
Edinburgh
• Rishi Sunak claimed in the ITV debate that “every working family” would face a £2,000 rise in taxes. Even if the figure were accurate, it would be an average across all households, and the claim that it would hit every family is untrue.
Philip Davies
Winchester
• Recent reporting on the Post Office Horizon inquiry and the infected blood scandal elicited calls for greater candour in public service. Is it not time for those at the forefront of the general election campaign to recognise that frankness has currency and would make their debates more bearable to witness than that broadcast on Tuesday evening between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer (Sunak and Starmer scrap over tax and immigration in heated first TV debate, 4 June)?
Charlie Leventon
Shrewsbury
• With the election on the horizon, how prescient of Adam Hargreaves to add Mr Fib to the cast of Mr Men and Little Miss characters (Mr Fib and Little Miss Surprise join ranks of the Mr Men and Little Misses, 4 June). After Tuesday night’s debate, I’m sending a copy to Rishi Sunak this afternoon.
David Duell
Durham
• Sunak versus Starmer – what did we learn? We learned that neither leader has any clue – or if they do, they’re not admitting it – how serious is the impact of climate change already, and how desperate will be the measures needed to help us survive it in the very near future. Renewable energy by 2030? By then we’ll be lucky to be getting any food supplies from the scorched southern Mediterranean, and as for agriculture in the UK, they clearly haven’t noticed that much of it is underwater already.
Isabella Stone
Sheffield
• What came to mind watching the leaders’ debate is that Rishi Sunak has the hallmark of a public school education. Taught to debate, taught to be confident, taught to believe in yourself. How he did not apologise for the damage his party has done under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, I do not know.
Ann Newell
Thame, Oxfordshire
• While recognising that the format of the “battle of the leaders” TV programme is not conducive to a rational and informed debate, it could be noted that the prime minister’s position and argument was based on fear, while that of the leader of the opposition was based on hope.
Rev Canon David Jennings
Market Bosworth, Warwickshire
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