Brandon Lewis ‘forgetting’ to pair his vote with new mum Jo Swinson is an utter disgrace

I’ve just listened with incredulity to David Lidington repeating the apology by Brandon Lewis and Julian Smith for their “honest mistake” in reneging on the pairing agreement with Jo Swinson yesterday. Lewis has said the whips made a mistake in asking him to vote. He then compounded the mistake by forgetting he was paired. I know the Tories are proving themselves masters and mistresses of incompetence, but they’re now stretching the limits of our belief. Another day, another example of Tory duplicity and contempt for morality and the electorate.

Tom Russell
Sleaford​

On Sunday evening, BBC Radio 4 was reporting a tough week ahead for the government with a series of votes on Brexit, which were predicted to be close. News channels yesterday were reporting Theresa May’s government on the ropes with the possibility of losing the vote; so imagine my surprise to open today’s copy of The Independent to read not only that the government survived the vote, but that it was in part down to both the leader and former leader of the Liberal Democrats not turning up because it was felt they had victory in the bag. They appear to be the only people in the country that thought so.

I have been of voting age for nearly 20 years, I have voted in every election and every one of my votes has gone to the Lib Dems. During this time I have lived in both Conservative and Labour constituencies where the Lib Dems have consistently come second or third. For one election I made a trip from Leeds back to Kent in order to place my vote for a party I correctly predicted would come second, yet I did so as I wanted to register my support for the manifesto I felt best represented my political beliefs and I could not in all conscience complain about policies if I had not exercised my right to vote.

I appreciate MPs can’t always be in the House of Commons. However I do expect Lib Dems to show up for votes on Brexit irrespective of whether they think they will win or lose. Not only have they thrown away an opportunity to shape the Brexit debate, they are now in the self inflicted position where they can’t criticise the government’s policy without it being questioned. Because if they felt so strongly, why didn’t they vote on it? If they want me to continue turning up to vote for them in elections where it’s unlikely they will win the constituency, they have to start doing better.

Paul Kelly
Chesham

It would appear that according to some leading Brexiteers, cheating is only something done by benefits claimants, and not political campaign groups such as Vote Leave.

Back in 2014, Philip Davies said: “we are giving out the impression that it is easy to cheat the system in Britain”, in response to data which suggested that only 3 per cent of those convicted of benefits fraud ended up being sent to prison.

Will he now be calling for senior members of the Vote Leave campaign, including current cabinet members, to resign from their jobs, and for Vote Leave chairs to go to prison if they are found guilty by the courts of breaking electoral law?

After all, consistency is surely important when it comes to politics.

Chris Key
Address supplied

The Trump and Brexit phenomena burst onto the world stage within a few months of each other. Do I detect a certain symmetry, and is it too much to hope that Vote Leave and president Donald Trump may be close to getting their comeuppances at about the same time – with electoral malpractice proven and words “misspoken” at the Helsinki summit? With luck, both will go down in history as unpleasant but temporary aberrations and as a result populist movements elsewhere will begin to lose momentum.

Patrick Cosgrove
Bucknell

After four years of rain and four weeks of sun, United Utilities is set to implement a temporary hosepipe ban in the northwest of England from 5 August. This comes on top of the reported 430 million litres of water that is allegedly being lost each day by United Utilities due to leakages in its network.

A United Utilities spokesperson said the temporary ban would “safeguard essential supplies” in the wake of recent, and continuing hot weather.

Sadly the company is the one of the biggest culprits in wasting its precious commodity. Where can the great, and literally, unwashed seek an alternative supplier?

Dave Paisey
Address supplied

So after the World Cup final between France and Croatia on 15 July in Moscow, we witnessed the second leg of the great finale, on 16 July in Finland between president Vladimir Putin’s Russia and president Donald Trump’s United States. Final score: Putin one, Trump zero with Russia’s winning strike an own-goal by his American counterpart.

Rajendra Aneja
Mumbai