What has happened to collective responsibility in this government?

It really is saying something when the home secretary goes completely off her brief in order to challenge her own government’s policy on the issue of asylum.

What on earth has happened to collective responsibility in this government?

One day you have one message coming from London, and the next day we have a completely defiant tone coming from Bournemouth.

This is just a government in chaos. The only way to solve it is by doing away with the right-wing xenophobes between now and the election, fighting for an agenda that instead supports business, supports hard workers, and supports power being returned to local communities.

Geoffrey Brooking

Hampshire

Suella Braverman appears to be making a bid for leadership of the Tory party and a role as our prime minister – worryingly the same process that gave us Liz Truss, meaning she could very well achieve it. Michael Gove is not as enthusiastic, and believes the Tory party can only win the next election by focusing on economic competence.

But there is a track record to consider. The Tory party has had 13 years to showcase its prowess in the area, and has little to nothing of public benefit to show for it. Their tenure has compassed the iniquity of a directional and unfair policy of austerity.

Tax arrangements under which the ultra-wealthy prosper have been favoured while the public is burdened with record levels of inflation. The devastation of "oven ready" Brexit, the corruption and incompetence in the management of Covid, the deliberate run down of publicly owned services (very obviously for the purposes of privatisation), the ugly discrimination and potential illegality of their confused and expensive immigration policy – the list is far from comprehensive. Economic competence does not loom large.

And we should not forget the disgraceful conduct of MPs at a personal level. Our former tax-dodging chancellor, and a self-serving prime minister who purged the party of much of its intellect and decency were both damaged by conduct issues.

If returned to government this Tory party will continue the same damaging policies by the same ugly means. We have learned to our cost that, under current rules, once in power governments can only be removed by they themselves. The appointment of Gove, or Braverman, or perhaps, as some would have it, a triumphant return by Boris Johnson as party leader will be unlikely to prevent the outcome of the next general election from being a well-earned Tory party catastrophe.

David Nelmes

Newport

Back in the day, government ministers spent their time governing the country. We would see them on the news talking about the issues of the day, and what they were going to do about solving them. Newspapers would run reports of an education minister talking about education, or a health minister talking about health.

Now we have sound bites and rehearsed speeches. Any number of different MPs will appear on any given day, and the exact same words will come out of all of their mouths. In the same order. The interviewer can ask anything they want, but they will get the same unrelated word salad that bears absolutely no relation to the question asked.

We are presumably at the start of the election cycle. Are we, the electorate, going to be subjected to more three-word slogans? Insults about being part of the “wokerati”? Belittled for eating tofu? Are today’s politicians so out of touch with the reality of everyday life that they truly believe that we want to hear them spouting meaningless drivel rather than a solution to the very real problems affecting real people?

We don’t want to hear about squabbling and infighting in the political parties. We want to hear what they are going to do to make life better.

Karen Brittain

York

The last year has presented an upward battle for farmers and landowners, who have had to grapple with sky-high fertiliser, fuel, and energy prices with little to no support from the government, which failed to insulate the sector following the loss of post-Brexit subsidies.

Rishi Sunak’s support package announced yesterday does very little to address the crux of the challenges that are crippling the sector. So much so that two-thirds of farmers are not confident about the future of UK food production, which is notable given that support for energy-intensive industries such as food production was not announced.

Farmers need security. Clean energy can offer a vital financial lifeline, particularly with the option of behind-the-meter solutions. Connecting directly to a renewable energy source can free farmers from record-high, fixed-term energy contracts, helping shift the power back into the farmer’s hands and providing reassurance for the future of food in the UK.

Phil Thompson

CEO of Balance Power