Labour’s U-turn shows they mean business

I read John Rentoul’s recent column with interest and winced that Labour is still willing to reward bankers, who earn often humongous salaries. But the caveat is that in this febrile political world, it does pay to be fiscally proactive with a sector that is economically successful.

Keir Starmer and his chancellor Rachel Reeves want the business world to appreciate that they themselves do mean business and want growth and prosperity to spur a much-needed renaissance in this country. But hopefully, if Labour does take power, it will not bow to the business world at the expense of the rest of the country who need to see success and profits trickle down, not reside totally in that financial community.

It may seem to be overoptimistic, but a level playing field for the public sector has to be reinforced or a change of government might resonate too much of the past – where the 1 per cent got richer at the expense of those suffering from austerity and all that came with it.

Judith A Daniels

Norfolk

When it comes to curbing bankers’ bonuses, I agree that obscene levels of all bonuses should be capped.

However, the views from Steve Mackinder and Geoff Forward in The Independent’s recent letters page show how blinkered people are. Especially if this one item, compared to all the mess inflicted by this government over the past 14 years, is enough to sway their voting intentions.

David Angus

Eaglescliffe, County Durham

That voters in this country are desperate to get shot of this Tory government goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway.

Rishi Sunak is dithering about the date of this year’s general election, keeping us all on tenterhooks.

After taking a warning from the IMF, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is now presenting his next budget without any tax cuts. Whether or not it will make any difference whatsoever to poll ratings for the Tories remains to be seen, but it is doubtful.

Elsewhere, Labour’s chancellor-in-waiting Rachel Reeves plans to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses and dismisses levying a “wealth asset tax” on the plethora of millionaires, multimillionaires and billionaires in this country.

A tax that would have generated vast amounts of money to enable public services to be fully restored and public sector salary disputes across the board, including those of NHS doctors and nurses, to finally be resolved.

Linda Evans

London

What were Nicola Sturgeon’s tears about at the Covid inquiry? Scotland’s Covid deaths? Or for herself? Is Alister Jack’s scepticism warranted?

Sturgeon was heckled and booed as she arrived at and left the inquiry. There are accusations of a lack of transparency, of politicising the pandemic, and of habitual cronyism that even SNP spin can’t disappear away. There are no demands for selfies now.

Journalists used to discuss which significant UN body she’d head up after stepping down as first minister, but no longer. With Operation Branchform (the investigation into possible fundraising fraud in the SNP) still hovering in the background and uncomfortable truths emerging about Sturgeon’s attitude to openness, and about her managerial style, she was surely weeping for herself, her lost career, and her fear of an uncertain future.

Martin Redfern

Roxburghshire