Letters - March 13, 2019

Colonel retired or Doctor sometimes Barry Clayton looks forward to hearing my views on antisemitism in the Labour Party.

From the moment Jeremy Corbyn emerged as the Labour Party leader, a barrage of allegations of antisemitism was levelled at him and the party.

They have tarnished the party’s image, deflecting it from promoting its core programme of anti-austerity and redistributing of wealth.

Many have been grossly exaggerated.

Over the last 10 months, there have been 1,106 referrals of antisemitsm allegations. Of these, 433 have nothing to do with party members, leaving 673 to investigate, of which 220 were dismissed for lack of evidence. This has left 453 cases, which is 0.08 per cent of the party’s 540,000 members - that is one-twelfth of one per cent.

Of these 453, 96 resulted in suspension or 0.01 per cent - or one-hundreth of one per cent of members. There were 12 expulsions - or 0.002 per cent - of members.

By no stretch of the imagination can a 0.08 per cent of incidents, support a claim of rampant problems in Labour.

At the last election Labour fell short of becoming the government by a few percentage points.

The election was predicted to be close. The damage to the party inflicted by the allegations of antiseminism, often levelled by Big Business and the Establishment, and also a tame press, helped keep the party out of office.

Ironically, the Labour Party is the only party in western Europe which has both the programme and the potential to govern, and thus the power to address the economic and political causes of the very real rise of fascism across Europe. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Royston Jones

Anchorsholme

POLITICS

Deserters shouldn’t get paid either...

Chris Moncrieff says all party deserters should resign from parliament.

I agree - and they should not pick up fat pay packets. They should go back to the voters who put them there and ask them if they agree to the change.

Mr A Gibson

Pilling Avenue
St Annes

APPEAL

Join race and help children’s hospice

We would like to call upon your readers to take advantage of the remaining places available for the world’s biggest half marathon.

We are a children’s hospice and we have guaranteed charity places for people to take part in the Simplyhealth Great North Run on Sunday September 8.

Apart from remaining charity places, registration for this event – which attracts over 40,000 people from all over the world – is completely sold out.

By signing up to run on behalf of Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People in the East Midlands, your sponsorship will be helping to support children and young people with life-limited illnesses and their families. While the challenge of 13.1 miles may seem a little daunting, our dedicated events team will support you every step of the way providing help and tips for your training and fundraising and race day support. We also have an accommodation and transportation package available.

So why not make the most of the summer evenings and light nights by training for this fantastic event and joining Team Rainbows? To find out more, visit rainbows.co.uk/gnr2019 or contact Neil Swift on 01509 638005 or [email protected].

Neil Swift

Rainbows Hospice

SOCIETY

Problems down 
to capitalism

There are too many issues

being overlooked in the media due to Brexit, and now the 11 ‘scoundrels’ who have quit the Tory and Labour parties.

Gas, electricity and water companies are all set to raise their prices by over four per cent. Meanwhile up to 16,000 jobs are threatened for Honda workers in Swindon.

The car industry is in global crisis, with losses in the UK at Jaguar Land Rover, Vauxhall, Ford and Michelin. Thousands have also lost their jobs in the US and Canada. This is due to capitalism – and not Brexit.

John Appleyard

via email

POLITICS

Nodding dogs or voting fodder?

Last week’s budget meeting at Wyre Council demonstrated clearly how a once proud efficient low tax council has been reduced to a high tax austerity council.

Not so long ago Wyre was congratulated by the Government as being an exemplar of how a district council should be run but now all has changed. Tory councillors were squirming in their seats but all voted for an unjustifiable council tax increase. A senior Tory councillor told me they were just nodding dogs and whilst I wouldn’t be so rude, voting fodder does come to mind.

Peter Gibson

Leader, Wyre Independents