Letters - Tuesday December 15 2020

New analysis by Labour reveals that Chancellor Rishi Sunak will hit every key worker earning over £17,857 in England with a real-terms pay cut next year.

This includes 130,243 key workers in the North West – the teachers, police officers and Armed Forces personnel on the front line of the battle against Covid-19.

At the Spending Review on November 25, the Chancellor announced a ‘pay freeze’ for all public sector workers earning above £24,000 in 2021-22.

NHS workers weren’t included, while those earning less than £24,000 were promised “a fixed increase of £250”.

Taking into account inflation over the next fiscal year, that means every non-NHS public sector worker earning over £17,857 will actually get a real-terms pay cut.

In the North West this includes:

. 17,000 police officers

. 66,000 teachers

. 44,000 civil servants, including tax inspectors, prison officers and probation officers

. 1,800 members of the Armed Forces

That’s a pay cut for every police officer in England, all 501,000 teachers in English state-funded schools and over 90 per cent of the Armed Forces personnel based in England.

On top of the pay freeze, the Spending Review also contained a £1bn council tax bombshell hidden in the small print and a cut to Universal Credit that will hit those who can least afford it.

Key workers kept our country going this year, but the Chancellor has rewarded over a million of them with a real-terms pay cut.

It’s totally irresponsible to hit workers in their pockets when the economy is so weak, but the least the Chancellor can do is be upfront about it.

Instead, he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the police officers, teachers and Armed Forces personnel who’ve kept the country going during this pandemic.

They shouldn’t have to carry the can for this Government’s mistakes.

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds MP

via email

Royalty

They make dark days more bearable

Having seen the response of the Welsh minister and the Scottish minister, I feel the sour comments about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (pictured) to be unwarranted.

I feel sure most of the people who received a visit from Prince William and Catherine were delighted with their kindness and thoughtfulness at this time. I do believe they do a great job. To see some kindness and joy makes the dark days more bearable.

Marilyn S Shaw

via email

Politics

A dearth of good politicians

We have a Covid vaccine that is in short supply, requires extreme and complex measures to store and distribute it and whose efficacy is still not certain!

We have a rapid Covid testing kit which is at best 70 per cent accurate but in reality nearer to 50 per cent.

True it seems not to throw up false negatives but it fails to identify a significant percentage of asymptomatic positive cases; the most dangerous type.

We have had a month-long countrywide lockdown followed by 95 per cent of the country then being put under severe or extreme restrictions, all so we can have a five-day Christmas meet, greet and virus-spreading party!

All the above are being promoted as good news stories which just goes to show what a parlous state we’re in and how desperate the Government is to appear positive and dynamic!

Our Government is out of its depth and floundering and has been for the last 11 months.

It is made up, with few exceptions, of ministers who, under normal circumstances, could have aspired to be adequate but have been cruelly exposed by the pandemic.

While I accept they have a difficult job, making decisions based on constantly changing, confusing and often contradictory information, it is what they are paid to do.

They pushed themselves forward as being the best the country could get so they can’t complain and, before I’m accused of being anti- Conservative, let me say I can’t think of any politician, of whatever party, that could have done better and quite a few who would have been worse!

We have a dearth of good, solid, sensible politicians in this country at the moment and have had for some considerable time.

Richard Saberton

via email

Brexit

Brexit works both ways

We hear daily what will happen to us as a result of a No Deal Brexit. What we have not had, however, is the reciprocal consequences that the remaining current EU members could/would have to comply with when dealing with the UK. It works both ways.

Tim Bradshaw

via email