Letters - December 18, 2019

This country has survived a major political crisis. For several years the Labour Party has been infected by a nasty, virulent virus called Corbynism.

It attacked our liberal democratic values, encouraged class hatred, vilified our brave armed forces, supported terrorists, and poured hatred on Jews. Above all, it was unpatriotic.

The virus was nourished by a man who for 32 years has sat on the Commons back-benches and achieved nothing. Along with the incompetent McDonnell, and Abbott, he has been manipulated by the obnoxious Momentum puppeteers and a major union.

They threatened to turn our country into another dystopian hell like Venezuela and Castro’s Cuba, beloved by Corbyn.

They and their like must never again be allowed to hijack the Labour Party, a party that is now in danger of extinction.

There is much to admire in genuine socialism. Corbynism however is not socialism, it is a very nasty brand of Leninist/Marxism.

The whole episode is yet another example of the general public’s lack of a knowledge of history. From day one it should have been clear that Corbynism was anti -democratic and built on a platform of envy and state control of our lives. It is an ideology that has no place in a liberal democracy. Fortunately, the people saw through it in time.

A genuine democracy needs a competent and responsible opposition party if it is to function properly. Labour therefore must elect a moderate leader or die.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

ELECTION

Electoral system needs overhaul

Hopefully we can get Brexit started soon. We then urgently need to have a look at our electoral system.

Labour had a reduction in votes of 7.9 per cent and lost 59 seats.

The biggest beneficiary of this was the Liberal Democrats whose votes increased by 4.2 per cent and they lost one seat. Next were the Brexit Party with a two per cent increase and no seats. Greens increased by 1.1 per cent and no new seats. Conservatives increased by 1.2 per cent and 47 new seats. SNP increased their vote by 0.8 per cent and gained 13 seats.

As this is a national election there is obviously something drastically wrong with our method of allocating seats.

I think there are too many MPs at 650. We should reduce this by half. One of the biggest failings at present is that too much time and effort is spent on constituency matters that could be transferred to the Citizens Advice Bureau and be more professionally handled. The House of Lords or a second chamber should be reduced to a more manageable 200.

David Collins

address supplied

ELECTION

No win without popular leader

Suddenly everyone on the left is an expert on what went wrong on Thursday. For millions of us it is a doubly devastating defeat, as it heralds not just five years of a brand of Conservatism many of us fear but also comes with the bitter pill of Brexit to swallow over the next five weeks.

To compound the gloom still more, only in Scotland can we see progressive politics on the march and the more the SNP prosper, the more likely they are to leave the rest of the UK to the kind of politics that has given a man like Boris Johnson such immense power.

Of all the lessons to learn from Thursday, and there will be many, one surmounts all others – you can’t succeed with leaders who do not have a broad appeal.

Without credible leadership, the best of policies largely fall on deaf ears.

Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson were both hapless, hopeless at delivering votes.

The first step on the long rocky road back for both parties is to select far more effective successors to challenge what, I must concede, are the considerable political skills of Boris Johnson.

ian richardson

via email

ELECTION

Electoral system needs overhaul

What a fantastic election result. The electorate got its own back.

Hopefully most who lost their seats were the ones who ignored and treated their constituents with utter disregard on the EU referendum result, now they can take their own medicine. Sorry Yvette Cooper managed to survive, she really needed to go. Now I hope Boris Johnson finishes the job to get us out of the EU, no deal the preferred start, and build from the bottom.

Rebuild and back up Britain’s priorities and stop the derogatory attitudes that have developed from being under the EU domination.

Mr T Turner

via email

ELECTION

An opportunity

for this country

Boris, which in fact is the Russian word for fight, has now won his battle, a landslide victory, with a little help from the Brexit party at the General Election.

Labour has been but back in it’s box for at least five years, if not more. One could only imagine the damage and devastation a Corbyn/ McDonnell government, ‘The Give Away Duo’ could have done to this country for many a years to come.

Now the battle is over and the threat of a Corbyn government has gone. What an opportunity for this country with ‘The People’s Government’ led by Prime Minister Boris ‘Get Brexit Done’ Johnson’, freed from the shackles of the EU (European Union.) No more Threats of an EU Second Referendum.

Changing politics for the better. Starting right now.

Barry Carr

Fleetwood