The Tories have lost the election. Now, they’re hoping the UK stagnates

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, accused Amol Rajan of making comments that were “unworthy of the BBC” on the Today programme when the radio journalist merely stated the truth about the state of the nation. These have become standard Tory tactics: stoke the fires of a culture war and then deny the truth whenever they are exposed for their gross inefficiencies and incompetence.

Hunt knew that the phrase “unworthy of the BBC” would be headline-grabbing and contribute to the gagging of the nation’s broadcasters during this febrile year. Meanwhile, GB News continues to pump out its right-wing propaganda unchecked.

What was truly “unworthy” of the government was a Budget whose prime purpose appears to be to disrupt the nation’s finances so that an incoming Labour government will find it difficult to address the economic mess created by the Conservatives. Hunt’s tactics are tantamount to hoping that the nation stagnates for the next five years so that the Tories stand a better chance of being re-elected in the future. No thought, it seems, for the good of the nation; only for the party’s future prospects.

As ever, an attitude and behaviour that is both shameful and shameless – and unworthy of our country.

Graham Powell

Cirencester

So Theresa May becomes the latest Tory MP to announce that she is deserting the sinking ship! Just goes to show how unprincipled the Tory party is. If they believed in the Conservative and Unionist Party’s principles, they would stay and fight for them; clearly, none of them are up for a fight they believe they might not win.

But I guess they’ve had their snouts in the public trough long enough to fill their pockets from lucrative second jobs and generous expenses, and will now exploit their contacts made while serving as public servants by stepping into well-paid jobs.

As Oliver Cromwell said: “It is not fit that you should sit here any longer. You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing lately … In the name of God, go.”

Nigel Groom

Essex

The motivation behind the recent Budget appears to have been to try to appease the right-wing of the Conservative Party, stem the haemorrhage of Tory voters to Reform, and a cynical attempt to make life for an incoming Labour government as difficult as possible.

A future Labour administration will find its hands fiscally tied with precious little room for manoeuvre in terms of spending and revenue raising.

Is it not time that the Labour Party actually levelled with the public?

Saying that Labour will govern with more probity and competence, reduce cronyism and stop trying to create social and cultural divides might be enough to win an election in 2024 – although it could be argued that the British public should expect nothing less. It will not, however, cut the mustard by 2029.

If things haven’t fundamentally improved by then for the majority of the population, a vast swathe of the electorate will either return to their natural habitat of the Conservative Party, or simply abstain from voting altogether.

For the 2024 general election, the Labour Party could give the electorate a simple choice. Vote for the Conservatives and have more of the same – the feeling that nothing in the UK works, a lack of investment in public services and British industry, an obsession with cutting taxes at all costs, the promotion of culture wars and the undermining of democracy. Or we could vote for an alternative.

Labour could contend that the nation is in a mess and resolving this will not be easy, requiring tough decisions and significant additional expenditure. Consequently, there will be little opportunity for any tax cuts in the short term. Indeed, it may be necessary to increase taxation – and if that should happen, then it will be targeted at those most able to pay. Its pledge to the British public would be that, in one electoral cycle, a tangible improvement in all aspects of public provision would be evident.

After 14 years of Tory mismanagement, what is required are bold politicians with an equally bold agenda that captures the imagination and gives people hope that things can improve. Offering slightly less than “more of the same” is simply not good enough.

Malcom T Harris

Address Supplied

John Lydon – aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols – is the son of two Irish parents who emigrated to London.

He, in his turn, migrated to the USA in the 1980s, along with his German wife.

Lydon has given a radio interview to LBC in which he denounced immigration, arguing that the UK “shouldn’t have accepted them [migrants] in such vast numbers” and arguing that immigrants (as opposed to racists) have created “division” in UK society.

Lydon insists that his Irish parents brought him up to be “proud to be British” – but that “pride” didn’t stop him from living in the United States for most of his life, and becoming a US citizen in 2013.

He’s the child of immigrants and has benefited from opportunities given to him to emigrate, yet he has become hostile to immigrants who want the same opportunities.

Such monstrous hypocrisy is not rare in public life, but is still disappointing to see from somebody like Lydon.

Sasha Simic

London