Dog-whistle politics from the Tory party should come as no surprise

The Tory attack on asylum seekers, reinforced by the deputy chair of the party Lee Anderson calling for them to “f*** off back to France”, should hardly come as a surprise.

It is typical kneejerk, dog-whistle politics to castigate asylum seekers and immigrants, by a political party in the electoral mire, desperate to garner votes by whatever means possible. It should also be noted that these incendiary remarks have not been condemned by Keir Starmer.

It was one reason why many people backed Brexit, and it is straight out of the right-wing playbook, which sees people blame their inability to get a GP appointment or a council house firmly at the feet of “immigrants”.  

While “stop the boats” is the best-known Tory pledge, cutting the size of NHS waiting lists seems to have disappeared off the agenda, probably explained by a rise in the overall waiting list south of the border.

Asylum seekers represent just 8 per cent of non-EU immigration last year but consistently dominate the headlines. Glossing over the real issues to distract voters from failures, and attempting to blame them is a populist trick, tried many times through history. The UK is heading down a very dangerous road, it’s clear the Tories as well as the pro-Brexit Labour Party are happy to use human beings as political tools.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

Whilst Rishi Sunak is posing on his summer holidays away from his spacious Yorkshire mansion, refugees and asylum seekers are being rounded up in England to be packed into out-of-sight barges.

The prime minister must feel proud for eventually getting his way in dealing with those who fled their country and dared to dream of a share in our safety and security.

Bambos Charalambous

Manchester

I read Margaret Crosby’s recent letter with complete agreement and would applaud her sentiments. This dire and inefficient treatment of migrants has led to the catastrophic crisis we have now, with yet more outlandish policies coming down the line.

These people would indeed, if given a fair chance and indeed a fair hearing, enrich our society and fill our ever-growing labour vacancies. We have all witnessed a lot of political water go under the bridge but more strident rhetoric and indeed obscene language from a deputy conservative chair is unacceptable. There appears to be no dignity, just rabble-rousing techniques.

She is correct a general election now would cleanse and refresh the muddied waters. The British people could, at last, have their legitimate democratic voice heard and hopefully put a stop to the Wild West form of governance we have at the moment, where anything goes.

The tragic thing is that many people are becoming inured to this lowest common denominator form of politics. That is utterly depressing because our country and its people are still far better than this and deserve far more.

Judith A Daniels

Norfolk

By numbers, The Independent lists 10 billionaires with a net worth of $100bn or more. These people (nine US citizens, one French, and all men) have increased their wealth by $427bn or about 30 per cent in the space of a year. A year that, for most of us, was defined by a “cost of living crisis”. I am sure the two are unconnected, but it offers useful perspective to consider that in three months of the year the equivalent of $220bn was wiped from the market value of UK private pension funds. When billionaires win big like this I suspect the losers are innumerable.

Kevin Murphy

Southampton

Oh dear, I see that Amanda Abbington has been drawn into the bonkers campaign against trans people and drag queens. Since this non-issue became a major distraction to the countries’ real problems I felt my mind going back to my schooldays in the 1970s. Never did my parents dash to the off switch on our television when Danny La Rue or Hinge & Bracket appeared. One must also remember that we were not so tolerant in those days regarding minorities, but bizarrely we are behaving worse nowadays!

I have no insider knowledge nor have I scrutinised social media on this issue. I have only gleaned information from these pages and on balance I feel that Ms Abbington probably did not think through her comments sufficiently and/or was having a bad day, which we all have from time to time.

Personally, I shall not be watching Strictly Come Dancing. Not because of Ms Abbington who I wish the best of luck, but because the series is well past its best and should be considered an example of the stale programmes, which others have been bemoaning recently on these pages.

Robert Boston

Kent