Monday letters: No need for May to call an election

Nick Glynne (The Yorkshire Post, July 20) asks if “Theresa May, as an unelected Prime Minister, will ensure that the will of the people is respected and call an early election”.

Firstly, an election is essentially about voters in constituencies voting for their representative MP. The ballot sheet doesn’t specify the leader of any of the particular parties. So in my view, Theresa May as an accepted Conservative MP is entitled to lead the country.

I am not sure that the will of the people is to call for an early election but, if so, I believe that is very misguided.

At the last election the opinion polls forecast a closely fought contest, only to totally underestimate the SNP vote in Scotland together with the huge losses of Labour and SDP.

Since then we have had the referendum, David Cameron has resigned (not wanting to carry out the wishes of the people) and the Labour party is in turmoil. Without Proportional Representation could another election give any different result?

With Andrea Leadsom withdrawing from the Tory leadership this helped move things forward to propel Theresa May to PM, and quickly remove David Cameron from the office he was no longer committed to.

Whether or not this was Andrea’s intention is open to debate but the end result was good and means that our new PM can get on with running the country, get her cabinet concentrating on important issues, and put to the back of her mind thoughts of a time-consuming General Election.

Dangers of correctness

From: C A Gallacher TD VR, Normanby Road, Middlesbrough.

As someone who spent a great many years in the Infantry, I am disappointed to hear that women will be allowed to serve in the front line in what is possibly the most demanding job in the Army.

This should not be a gender issue, as anyone who has served will understand. The demands placed on the physical and mental strength of soldiers in the Infantry are massive and sadly this has been underlined in the recent death of a soldier during a training exercise in Brecon.

Those who have had the pleasure of attending either Junior or Senior Brecon, along with the Platoon Commanders battle courses, know how intense it is in usually arduous terrain and weather conditions.

Therefore to make an arbitrary decision to allow women to join the Infantry makes the mistake of applying entry level standards.

However, anyone joining would wish to progress to the highest ranks possible which involves attendance at these challenging courses. Has anybody considered this? I am afraid this will result in a reduction of standards to satisfy the politically correct elements in the military. This is a serious business and not a classroom exercise.

Britain needs a nuclear option

From: Paul Emsley, Hellifield.

I TAKE issue with Jeremy Corbyn’s contention that all supporters of the United Kingdom having a nuclear deterrent are “mass murderers”.

I support the renewal of Trident because I think the world today is a more dangerous place than it was when we brought it in as a replacement for Polaris.

I am not suggesting that we would use the nuclear option against the so-called Islamic State, but has Mr Corbyn not noticed who is in charge of Russia, China and North Korea at this present time?

A submarine-based nuclear deterrent gives the United Kingdom the option of having both a first and second strike capability; as well as providing a means of taking out enemy submarines before they can launch their own weapons. Unfortunately, four vessels is the operational minimum required to maintain continuous, operational cover.

I’m sure we could all spend the money required to maintain our deterrent on other national projects which could provide a more visible and immediate benefit to the whole country. If I had the option, for instance, I would fund Trident by cancelling HS2.

The quest for truth goes on

From: Edward Grainger, Botany Way, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

Theresa May went out of her way in her address to the Police Federation to stress that after the Hillsborough inquiry what is at stake is the reputation of the police and that there is a constant need for both truth and justice where families seek both.

Hopefully the civil servants in the Home Office will very soon place the Orgreave files in front of the new Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, so that the families and miners directly involved can at last know the full truth as to what happened.

Mary Rose is a war grave

From: Elisabeth Baker, Leeds.

The news about the restoration of the Mary Rose is fascinating, and the efforts of those involved have been ingenious.

However, the vessel was King Henry VIII’s flagship and sank whilst “on duty” with the loss of the lives of almost 500 sailors. Should she not, therefore, have been left undisturbed on the seabed as a war grave?

Minister could help revive North’s Carbon Capture scheme

From: Ron Firth, Campsall.

I WAS amazed to read (The Yorkshire Post, July 20) of the warnings from Whitehall’s spending watchdog over the implications of the ditching of Carbon Capture by the Treasury last year which led Drax to cease their work on CCS.

Some years ago now, the Don Valley Power Project was set up to, hopefully, make use of the vast supply of coal at the adjoining Hatfield Colliery, to develop a Carbon Capture Scheme which would attract thousands of skilled workers and heavy-polluting industries to the area and provide a very substantial supply of low carbon energy for households and industry alike.

This scheme was regarded as the most advanced in Europe by the EU who offered grants of some 440m euros, if matched by the UK Government, and several global investors were looking to invest.

Sadly, the Department of Environment and Climate Change was headed by Ed Davey, who, with the local MPs Ed Miliband and Caroline Flint, much preferred to waste taxpayers’ money at on-shore wind farms, with the result that the Don Valley Power Project was dropped.

The situation was aggravated by the subsequent failure to support the White Rose CCS at Drax and this double rebuff signalled the end for the coal mines at Kellingley and Hatfield, whose medium to long-term future depended on developing CCS as coal-fired power stations were doomed by cheap imports and the imposition of punitive levies on coal.

Why didn’t the many MPs of all parties in the North of England intervene to secure CCS in Hatfield and Drax instead of waiting until its abandonment?

Mary Creagh now says “CCS is essential to meet our 2050 climate change targets. It is critical that the Government establish a new strategy for supporting large scale deployment of CCS, as without it,the eventual bill for cutting our carbon emissions could be up to £30bn more”.

A recent snippet in The Yorkshire Post stated that students at York University were having some success on another method of achieving Carbon Capture.

Is this being actively promoted and funded? If not, why not?

Perhaps this could be an early opportunity for Andrew Percy, as newly appointed Northern Powerhouse Minister, to investigate.

Overseas aid commitment a Cameron ego trip

From: Terry Watson, Adel, Leeds

I AM sure that the new Government will look closely at the way our taxes have been squandered by Lord Bountiful, David Cameron. He was quick to beg Theresa May not to drop his overseas aid commitment of £12bn a year, 40 per cent of which goes straight to Brussels with no audit trail whatsoever.

That should be one of the first things to be changed. It was only an ego trip for Cameron trying to impress the world with his generosity. Every pound we the taxpayers give should be properly accounted for and the fixed commitment of 0.7 per cent of GDP scrapped. The Green taxes should also be used to bring down energy bills. The ma-made global warming nonsense has lost all credibility after years of lying by governments worldwide.

HS2 is another of Dave’s stupid ideas. Why do we want to spend £63bn on a high-speed train, which we cannot afford and do not need, when billions need spending on our existing third world railways? We need longer trains and stations with longer platforms. Passengers who pay fortunes for their tickets might then have the luxury of a seat.

Theresa May said she was “the heir to Thatcher”. Well let’s hope she is, unlike the heir to Blair, of whom we have just got rid. Then, when we are finally rid of the EU, we will see Britain blossom.