Keir Starmer may pull off an unusual feat with his Brexit stance

I understand Keir Starmer’s desire to appear daring after all the “boring leader” stories, but the desire to make Brexit work suggests a grab for the vote of the right wing of the populace, who are rather unlikely Labour voters.

Unfortunately, he may succeed in pulling off a rather unusual feat, the alienation of electors from the left, moderate and centre – all at once.

Cole Davis

Norwich

I read your editorial with interest and I too wonder if Keir Starmer has read the room wrong.

I am still a Remainer to my bones, but have not relished the unalterable fact that Brexit is not a work in progress, just an abject failure, with this government shredding deals with the speed that they signed up to them in the first place.

I appreciate that he doesn’t want to rerun old arguments but this is, I sense, a missed opportunity. The public have indeed altered their views on this issue and would welcome a closer affiliation with the EU.

Starmer has often been accused of shilly-shallying and not coming out with definite policies and views as to what Labour would do. On this occasion, he has been emphatic about making Brexit work, but I fear that horse has finally bolted and being robust about its reappearance is basically whistling in the dark.

Judith A Daniels

Great Yarmouth

In ruling out any prospect of Britain rejoining the EU or its single market and customs union, the Labour leader is turning his back on the future of millions of our citizens, but particularly our young who, since Brexit are facing poorer income, housing, employment, education, and social mobility opportunities that their peers in the rest of the EU take for granted.

Labour could still be the custodian of these Remain hopes, but short-term political calculation seems to have prevailed. Yet that in itself is loaded with risk.

Starmer is naive in believing a UK racked with economic decline and serious threats of recession can wrangle better terms from the EU, while his hopes of neutralising the Brexit issue, particularly in the red wall north, may only end up diminishing Labour’s appeal in London, the south and Scotland.

Paul Dolan

Cheshire

Suella Braverman claims that civil servants are resisting cutting EU legislation after Brexit. But most recent polls show that people in general have reservations about it.

Perhaps the civil service is more sympathetic to democracy than the government is?

Susan Alexander

Frampton Cotterell

Sean O’Grady correctly identifies that “Boris can’t even lie properly about the Chris Pincher scandal” and such mendacity has predictable consequences.

Johnson has several given names, and he needs to be careful that history does award him the additional one of “Matilda”.

Colin Burke

Cumbria

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I am disgusted at the current Just Stop Oil protests in art galleries around the country. Students are glueing themselves to valuable artworks, which will inevitably cause damage which will be very expensive and time consuming to restore.

I trust that as well as criminal charges for their vandalism, the museums concerned will see that they are pursued for the full costs of restoration of the paintings, frames and buildings they have defiled.

Were I the principal of their university, each and every one of them would be expelled, as I would have almost certainly been had I behaved like when I was a student, albeit in a century where standards were seemingly higher.

Ian McNicholas

Ebbw Vale