This government is treading water as it drowns in its own incompetence

Devoid of any visible principles or substantial policies to address the nation’s problems, the prime minister’s playground jibes about the leader of the opposition during Prime Minister’s Questions highlight the lack of serious leadership from a government that is treading water as it drowns in its own incompetence.

Meanwhile, our military leaders are advising us to take pre-war action in the face of international instability that will be exacerbated without doubt if Donald Trump is re-elected before the year’s end. As Sean O’Grady says, a third world war will wreck the world’s economy and negate any actions that might be taken to limit climate change.

At times like this, we need serious and measured leadership if we are to learn from past mistakes and avoid sleepwalking into a cataclysmic disaster from which there will be no return. On balance, I would put my trust in someone with substantial experience as director of public prosecutions rather than a prime minister whose leadership amounts to little more than mounting a proxy war against those who are awake to the errors of the past and keen to guard against repeating them in the future.

Graham Powell

Cirencester

It’s hard to avoid all the usual news about the Tories tearing themselves apart. On top of this we have our military warning us of the prospect of war with Russia. All this will pale in significance when warnings of environmental damage being caused by our lust for oil are ignored.

Britain has already been battered by gales and floods. The world is heating up year on year. When will we get our priorities right? We need politicians who look at the bigger picture and plan for our future rather than their own.

Consensus seems to be that Labour will win the next election. But they’ve been making noises about rowing back on support for environmental schemes. I just hope enough people vote Green at the election to ensure we pressure politicians into looking after Mother Earth and all who depend on her.

Andy Van

Shropshire

Tory chief whips’ warnings to the former home secretary Suella Braverman and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick once again highlight how out of touch Tory leadership has been with the reality on the ground and the public sentiments. All sensible and thinking people should stand with these two brave individuals, who have had the courage to speak out.

Our immigration policy has been in a shambles for more than 20 years. The rot actually started during the Labour government and has continued pretty much unabated since. In fact, it has become worse since Brexit. To those who have an understanding of how modern Britain works, it shouldn’t come as a surprise at all. 

A systematic culture of outsourcing, creating a demand for a low-wage economy and the continuous need for large-scale, low-skill immigration has led us to where we are today.

It is evident that we have unwittingly created a monster – half greedy and half stupid – with the insatiable demand for more and more cheap labour that lets in everyone who wants to get in to exploit the system or be exploited by it.  

It has all the ingredients to destroy everything we hold dear as a civilised nation. Back in early 2000, as a government adviser, I often highlighted these concerns and provided evidence of the widespread abuse this kind of immigration culture, that we unwittingly or wittingly help create, causes for us all.

Perhaps the genie is already out of the bottle and it is too late to do anything about it. It seems there is very little the majority of the public can do about the tides of market forces and the evident naivety of our elite. But Labour and Conservative leadership must pay heed – to save whatever trust is left in our political system and our politicians among the general public.

Simon Quadri

Address Supplied

How often do we hear the government using the claim that it is “the will of the people” when proceeding with unpopular legislation? If that’s not too oxymoronic, and they are now citing its inclusion in their manifesto.

So how come their ban on trophy hunting, included in their 2019 manifesto and supported by all parties as well as being hugely popular with the people, is not being pursued with the same gusto? Could it be that there are wealthy pro-hunting donors lobbying for it to be dropped? In my opinion that may have been the plan all along.

Geoff Forward

Stirling

The failure of our deplorable, useless government to ban the import of hunting trophies demonstrates yet again how parliament thwarts the humane wishes of the people and fails to put a stop to the indefensible abuse of animals.

Slaughtering animals for excitement, and the feeling of power this gives the callous perpetrators, is repugnant to the vast majority of normal people. These vile practices are defended with bogus justifications for decades on end while campaigners struggle against the hunters and their powerful friends to get the truth out. 

Thankfully social media has revolutionised this unfairness and horrific films now show the reality. In this country we have our own hunting scandal. The Hunting Act of 2004 is constantly and violently defied 20 years after its inception. 

The gathering of evidence of this aggressive lawbreaking has been left to private individuals, whose personal safety is at serious risk every time they go to a hunt. Extensive evidence of the violence and cruelty is available at the click of a button via Facebook and YouTube – it is constant, horrifying and shocking. I have monitored fox hunts for three decades and I know what I’m talking about.

Keir Starmer now needs to reassure potential Labour voters that his party will indeed tackle this scandal by introducing rigorously tough legislation that will stop illegal hunting outright. As a former director of public prosecutions, Starmer should rate lawlessness, protected with menaces and violence, high on his list of issues to be dealt with. For once, we need to see real decency from our politicians – the protection of animals should not be at the bottom of their pile of priorities. 

They must have the integrity to fulfil the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people on this heartbreaking and shocking state of affairs. A firm pledge in the Labour manifesto is what we need to see.

Penny Little

Oxfordshire