The government is supposed to ease our burdens – not create new ones

We have learned that, notwithstanding the spider webs of red tape in which we have snared ourselves with Brexit, the Centre for European Reform calculates that the government has also lost some £40bn in revenue – our revenue – in consequence.

It was reported by Andrew Grice on Thursday that this was sufficient to give every public sector worker “an inflation-linked pay rise instead of a real-terms cut and still have £12bn to spare” – sums beyond the unions negotiable expectations.

I believe that most people consider it the purpose of government to resolve national problems, not to propagate them. Their disastrous policies have shrunk both the national cake and it’s associated tax revenues. The appetite of their funders and supporters for a larger part of the smaller cake appears unabated.

Our electoral system has saddled us with a government we cannot change, and whose policies we are hamstrung by. It seems likely that they will continue to refuse to talk to the representatives of a significant number of the hard-working majority who have suffered 12 unrelenting years of an austerity not experienced by the government themselves or their patrons. In a number of cases, the disputes are literally matters of survival not just for the individuals but possibly for the institutions involved. The NHS is a prime example of this.

They should not be sitting on their hands and hoping a weaponised public weariness will defeat the unions – their usual modus operandi. This is one stare-down they may well lose. Should we look forward to a characteristic U-turn, or will the ballot box be the ultimate – and, sadly, too distant – resolution?

David Nelmes

Newport

Oh shock and horror, the outrage of the public as the Conservative government plot to privatise our beloved NHS.

For many years private companies have been given contracts to supply patient meals, laundry and cleaning, maintenance, and nurses and doctors through agencies.

Maybe, just maybe, if the NHS took these services back from the private sector, their outrageous fees could be used to properly fund training, recruitment and decent wages and conditions for all staff.

Private contractors/companies by their very nature are not accountable to governments for poor quality services (you do, after all, get what you pay for). They are accountable to shareholders to make as much profit as they can!

This I’m afraid, is the disease that has ruined a once great country of world-class innovators, educators and leaders in all sorts of different fields. What once was the mother of all parliaments is now a cesspit of greedy, cheating, snivelling buffoons who have turned our country into a world-class joke.

Charles Kelso

Address supplied

No room at the inn? Send them to Rwanda!

Tim Montagnon

Rutland

It is laughable that the Labour Party thinks that recruiting a celebrities and endorsements manager on a salary of £53,700 will encourage voters like myself (middle-aged male homeowners) to vote for them.

What we want to see is the Labour Party standing up for working-class people with engineering skills who help keep this country going.

Kartar Uppal

West Midlands

I think we all knew (that is, those who really thought about it) that exiting the European Union was going to have an overall negative impact on the UK economy, as well as on the overall fabric of this country.

But, of course, the vote was lost and now we’re out. No matter how we negotiated the exit, it was going to hurt us and that is now clearly the case.

I have been a Tory supporter all my life, but I was never in favour of exiting the EU. I don’t really mind how we do it, or who does it, but we need to get increasingly close to the EU, and ultimately go back to being a leading member.

We can make a difference and be a force for good, but only from inside the EU. Outside of it, as we currently are, we are diminished in nearly all aspects.

Allan Gordon

Address supplied

Alas, Christmas has come at a time when many families are living in the immediate threat of destitution, homelessness, worklessness and fuel poverty due to soaring inflation. It also intersects with Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, curtailment of social security benefits, the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, cash-strapped councils, and rising food and fuel prices.

This should be a catalyst for benevolence, social solidarity, compassion and caring for one another.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London