Sunak needs to recognise that the game is up

Sean O’Grady is right to say that the chances of a Tory recovery from the by-election defeats on Thursday are slim and that to delay calling a general election until January 2025 is “madness”. Nevertheless, our prime minister (who he calls a “rational, highly intelligent man”) is an opportunistic politician who is becoming more and more adept at massaging the truth to serve his and his party’s ends rather than acknowledging what is in the nation’s best interest.

We can be sure that the Tories aren’t licking their wounds, learning from their mistakes and coming up with policies to rectify the mess they have made of government. Instead, they will be thinking of ways to tarnish the image of Keir Starmer and the Labour Party by grabbing hold of any spurious evidence they can to discredit them. At a time of extreme international instability, the prime minister should look at the by-election results and recognise that the game is up. The nation needs “secure and stable” leadership that, the electorate knows, his divided and incompetent party cannot provide.

It is long past the time that they should go, but I fear – despite the perils that beset us – that we have still longer to wait before we get the change we need.

Graham Powell

Cirencester

I suppose it is appropriate at the moment to have a leader who has been labelled “Doctor Death”. If the by-elections are anything to go by, people can finally see that his party has been destroying our country.

But now he is fleeting around like an inept butterfly trying to be a strong leader on the world stage while all the time showing just how weak he really is. This man should have the grace and bravery to call a general election rather than letting the country slide into more of the mire. Be honest with the British people and put the country before yourself and your party.

Paul Atkins

Burntwood

What sensational results the by-elections in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire turned out to be! This is proof that the Labour Party are regaining the trust of the electorate. It is also an endorsement for the transformation of the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer. Something that I now firmly believe is going to lead to a 1997-style landslide win for the party at the next general election, whenever it is called.

Geoffrey Brooking

Havant

I read with interest Sue Jarvis’ recent letter in The Independent.

In it, she states that she makes sacrifices in order to send her deaf grandson to a private school, as the local state school was unable to teach him.

She slams the Labour Party for their proposal to add VAT to private school fees, saying that Labour is “penalising the vulnerable”.

I find her logic a little skewed. Her grandson should be able to attend the local school and be offered the education that he deserves, as should all children with a disability or special educational needs. Rather than critiquing the Labour policy, perhaps she should be looking to criticise the Conservative government who, for the past 13 years, has cut funding for state schools year after year after year. Her ire would be better targeted there.

Those deaf children not lucky enough to have grandparents who can “make sacrifices” in order to send them to a fee-paying school also have the right to a decent education. VAT added to private school fees will add money to the state schools’ budget.

Karen Brittain

York

The difficulties regulating health service professionals (and many other national issues) can be boiled down to a lack of funding. And yet the tax burden placed on the population is the highest in recent times. What a gift to an incoming Labour government.

My advice: leave current levels of tax alone and use the windfall that will accrue as economic matters improve to right the injustices of the current disgraceful government. By all means, seek out and close loopholes and restore tax allowances so they keep pace with inflation. Any howls of anguish from the entitled few can easily be countered by pointing out who raised taxes in the first place!

In the meantime, the many social and economic challenges faced by the nation can be properly addressed (including poor regulation of health professionals). Who knows, there may even be scope for modest tax reductions come the next three general elections on current form.

David Smith

Taunton

So even The Telegraph describes the recent double by-election defeat as “a crushing blow for the Tories” as well they might, because it most certainly was and not entirely unexpected either.

Although they might have hoped against hope that they’d just about hold on to Nadine Dorries‘ Mid Bedfordshire seat, seeing as the Conservatives had held the seat for nearly 100 years, sadly it was not to be.

One might hazard a guess though that the fact that the flagrantly “unfragrant” Dorries had not participated or spoken in any parliamentary debate for almost a year was a contributing factor.

Linda Evans

London