The Uber ruling shows that the Government should not be proud of the huge increase in self-employment

It has been obvious for many years that one is not self-employed if one only has one client. It is disgraceful that the Government has been expressing pleasure that there has been a huge increase in self-employment since 2008 even though this is a manifestation of how difficult it has been to get a proper job.

Large numbers of currently self-employed people are suffering from unacceptably low incomes. The Government should not be calling this a sign of their success.

AE Baker
Thirsk

Why don’t the marginal parties team up?

With the left wing of UK politics fragmenting as the right draws its unsavoury Ukip wing back in house, redrawing electoral boundaries to suit itself, the implications for a generation of right-wing hegemony must be clear. Is it therefore not time for the centre left, which together must comprises a majority electorate, to come together in a broad alliance?

Labour, Lib Dems, Greens and the Scottish and Welsh nationalists share similar views on many policies and could surely thrash out a common platform to avoid splitting the votes against the common enemy, avoiding the need for tactical voting. Some sacred cows would have to be put out to pasture but is this not better than the alternative?

Des Senior
Aylesbeare

Brexit regret is too little, too late

Sean O’Grady is clearly suffering from a major case of “buyer’s remorse” in relation to his referendum vote in favour of Brexit. He now describes Brexit as “hugely risky”. I wonder in what other area of his life he would embark on a course of action that is hugely risky but might offer some prospect of a benefit at an unspecified date many years hence?

I suspect the answer is he wouldn't dream of embarking on such a course, and yet, by voting for Brexit, he was willing to commit the country to this path. Perhaps it was because as a comfortably-off baby boomer, the risk to him personally was significantly less than to millions of his less well off fellow citizens.

Douglas French
London N1

The people have spoken

I fear that Adam Posen's prediction is probably true (Brexit will cause stagflation, warns former BoE expert, 29 October). But he is an expert and so is not to be trusted. The people have spoken Brexit means Brexit. So Theresa May would jump across a 100 yard abyss because 52 per cent of the crowd shouted that they thought she could make it.

Chris Elshaw
Headley Down

We can all learn from I, Daniel Blake

I was saddened to read that I, Daniel Blake may be Ken Loach’s last film, but if it is then it's a terrific way to bow out.

I saw the film last week with two generations of my family. At the end all of us were in tears. Many people in the cinema were crying and one person shouted out in anger at the end, “we must do better than this in our rich society”, and earned a round of applause. Incredibly, more than 50 people stayed on for a spontaneous discussion about what's happening to the welfare state and how we can organise to stop the sort of savagery revealed in Loach’s drama. The discussion only ended when the hall was needed for the next showing. Anybody who wants to understand what the Government is doing to our welfare safety net in our name should see this poignant film.

Kevin Curley CBE
Duffield

Iain Duncan Smith has clearly not seen the whole I, Daniel Blake picture he describes. Had he done so he would have noticed that Ken Loach places Daniel Blake inside both Jobcentre and benefits offices while all around him the system is operating as expected, people queuing patiently, staff and claimants following procedure without censure, a scenario many who have visited these centers with recognise. The film does not vilify the institutions, staff or procedures of Jobcentre or benefits offices.

The film is about Daniel Blake who is a victim of confusion over definitions of a person’s health and the right to claim support – a confusion that needs Duncan Smith's attention.

Mike Dodds
London W11