Violence against MPs has become worryingly normalised

It’s rather sad that people seem to think their right to protest supersedes the rights of others to live their lives unmolested. The first time someone threw a milkshake over Nigel Farage it was a bit of a giggle, just as it was in 2012 when someone cracked an egg on Ed Miliband’s shoulder in Southampton and he simply laughed it off. But somehow such behaviour has now become normalised and is escalating. The reality is that it is assault, plain and simple.

Just because protesters might vehemently disagree with somebody does not mean they have the right to attack them in the street. That is simply an extension of the same mindset that sees people trash banks, ransack public spaces, set alight emergency vehicles, and shout down anyone with an alternate perspective. It’s not how a civilised society works, and it certainly isn’t going to persuade anybody to re-evaluate their political thinking.

We are fortunate to live in a democratic country, one with the privilege of freedom of speech – something denied to many in other parts of the world. It means that every political group has the right to make their case, while the public makes their choice at the ballot box.

In my opinion, proportional representation would be a fairer system still because it would ensure that minority perspectives were also given their due regard. But regardless, nobody gets to decide which dissenting voices should be silenced. No matter how vindicated someone might feel – there is no such thing as a righteous thug.

Julian Self

Milton Keynes

The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted that the numbers in the Conservative manifesto do not add up.

He also accepted that the £12bn in “savings” in the Conservative manifesto were already announced by Hunt himself earlier in the Autumn Budget (thus shredding the entire manifesto).

So, the promises the governing party are making are totally unfunded – and if put in place, would cause yet another Liz Truss-style economic crash.

The choice is now clear: either economic stability under Labour or higher taxes, higher mortgages and poorer public services under the Conservatives.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant

The Conservative Party has, quite simply, been consumed by Brexit.

Two totally unsuitable prime ministers and even more incompetent ministers did not help. However, one must remember that these individuals would never have even come to the fore without Brexit.

The Reform party is now eating the Tory party alive in the polls, despite Farage’s prior involvement in the economic problems we currently face.

Rishi Sunak still lauding Brexit in recent campaign interviews is frankly crazy, and only legitimises the Reform party further. Less than three weeks to go and it’s only going to get worse for this woeful administration.

Robert Boston

Kent

So, actor Brian Cox tells us he’s worried about the SNP downplaying independence in its general election campaigning. I’m not sure he should worry – firstly, he is a long-term US resident and is on record saying he couldn’t ever live in Scotland again because the weather is too “ghastly”.

But secondly (and more importantly) he need not fear the SNP’s adherence to nationalist dogma. Right now, they’re pragmatically focusing on other issues such as the economy and the NHS because the SNP establishment knows that’s what we’re most interested in, not constitutional wrangles about secessionism.

But we should never forget that the SNP’s primary objective, as per its constitution, is separating Scotland from the rest of the UK – not governing Scotland. Once we’ve cast our votes in the general election, the SNP will openly concentrate once more on their obsession: the “them and us” politics of division.

Martin Redfern

Roxburghshire

The election campaign has really become a case of the Tories scraping the bottom of the barrel. Do they think that bribing a couple of desperate refugees to fly to Rwanda will save their election bacon?

The vast majority of the electorate is intelligent enough to realise that this is a cynical ploy – all to try and persuade the public that the (very expensive) Rwanda scheme will have any effect whatsoever in dissuading desperate asylum seekers from making the dangerous channel crossing.

David Felton

Crewe