The Sunaks’ domestic disputes are a tone-deaf mistake

So we’ve been treated to an interview with Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty.

Just as we thought politics couldn’t get any more surreal, Sunak has pulled it out of the bag again.

How joyful for the electorate to see that, just like us, Mr and Mrs Sunak have domestic disputes too. She doesn’t stack the dishwasher right, he’s a bit particular about the beds. Lovely.

However, many of the electorate have a different type of domestic dispute. Not one that involves the mundane daily tasks but the daily grind of trying to make ends meet. Rather than arguing about the order of the plates in the dishwasher, many argue about whether they have enough food to put on those plates. Rather than be finicky about folding the corners of the (no doubt 100 per cent Egyptian cotton) sheets, families argue about who can have more blankets because the heating has been off all winter.

This interview shows the total disconnect between this government and the people of this country. At best, this interview can be seen as a tone-deaf, badly advised mistake. At worst, it shows just how little awareness the PM has about the struggles of millions of people.

Karen Brittain

York

During the height of the pandemic, while the Tory government were partying, handing out lucrative PPE contracts to their chums and bypassing local public health professionals to spend £37m outsourcing test and trace, local authorities were there – working with their local community groups to provide support for their residents in the form of food parcels, help with shopping, and caring phone calls to check on the physical and mental health of the most vulnerable.

Now, yet again, they are bearing the brunt of Tory cuts, providing a shield not to protect their services but to protect the government from being blamed for the dire state of local services.

In the sixth-richest country in the world, we have a right to expect not just bin collections but libraries and arts in our communities.

And not just cultural assets. I am involved in providing children’s school holiday food and activities, and a warm space and free lunch for older residents, in our local community centre, nourishing minds as well as bodies. Both are funded by the local authority, neither are luxuries, and both have uncertain futures. Cuts such as those to the household support fund (HSF) will have a devastating effect on the poorest in our society.

For the past 14 years, local councils have tried to manage austerity. Those of us who fought Tory cuts to local services in the Eighties well understand why this strategy was adopted. But, with the Tories determined to keep wielding the axe until there is nothing left, it has run its course.

We know that the Tories’ scorched earth approach could make life impossible for the incoming Labour government. But, along with the NHS, local authority funding must be a priority if Labour is to restore any semblance of the quality of life we all have a right to expect.

Joan Twelves

London

With their 2p national insurance cut and an implied tax bomb for when Labour win the general election, the Tories again show their contempt for all of us. They think they can buy our votes, despite their previous failure; or at least, that when Labour has to raise taxes in the next government, we’ll magically forget who made those irresponsible cuts (plus all the other things).

Meanwhile, they thumb their noses at the clear message of polling – that we want improvements to public services. Stripped to the bone, its marrow extracted; not more bloody cuts. Slashing public services, slashing rights and slashing moral leadership are all the Tories are good for. They’re hedging their bets, cutting national insurance to fool us.

It’s time we cut them off.

Ian Henderson

Norwich

Whatever Conservatives like Jeremy Hunt may say, their record on our economy for 14 long years has been one of high debt, high taxes, and low growth. Or to put it another way, decline, decay, and failure on top of the market chaos caused by Liz Truss in the first place.

It is exactly why we need a fresh start for Britain. Introducing the chance for young people to gain new skills through specialist employment support, career advisers and work experience that help cut unemployment.

Rather, than closing job centres in Fareham and Portsmouth when technically in a recession, which is nothing short of a mind-boggling exercise, we need to help people find work. The last cut in national insurance failed in a bid to build growth and so will this one. The only growth we have had in recent years has been all the garbage kicked into the long grass by Hunt and Rishi Sunak’s predecessors anyway.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant

Talk about shrink-economy. Birmingham’s massively increased taxation with reduced service provision is holding working people to ransom. Surely the Labour council can be a little more creative than that!

Paul Sellers

Abingdon