Jacob Rees-Mogg has the answer to social care funding - Yorkshire Post letters

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is among those calling for urgent action on social care.Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is among those calling for urgent action on social care.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is among those calling for urgent action on social care.

WHAT a sensible article from Jacob Rees-Mogg (The Yorkshire Post, May 31) suggesting a solution to the funding of social care.

Many older people delay going into care because they know the State will take from them the house they have scrimped and saved for to leave some legacy to their children.

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A contribution to their care depending on the amount of their income and not on their hard-got savings, with a £5,000 co-payment for those who can afford it, sounds a reasonable suggestion to me.

As Mr Rees-Mogg points out, this nettle should have been grasped long before it became the huge problem it now is.

Meanwhile, on the same page, Bill Carmichael rightly sums up the results of the European elections. My vote goes to him to be our next Prime Minister and instil a bit of good common sense into Parliament.

And, finally, Boris Johnson seems to be unlucky with his bid to be Prime Minister. He lost out last time when Michael Gove withdrew his support and now he has the support of a divisive figure in Donald Trump.

Perhaps he should withdraw now.

From: Phyllis Capstick, Hellifield.

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DONALD Trump has proved that he is not frightened to stand up to bullies. He has also proved that he will answer interviewers’ direct questions with an honest and direct answer. That is why politicians do not like him.

Their lies and deceit have got us into this mess. Only someone who tells the truth will get us out of it. Donald Trump is not a career politician, and neither is Nigel Farage.

The truth is that, three years ago, we voted to leave the so- called European Union. We had two distinct choices, nothing in between. We were promised, over and over again, that the result would be honoured.

Surely it must be time (long overdue) for truth to triumph?

Will Lib Dems cut hypocrisy?

From: Roger Backhouse, Orchard Road, Upper Poppleton.

I SEE Nigel Boddy (The Yorkshire Post, May 29) is promoting the Lib Dem policy to abolish university tuition fees. All very well but we’ve been here before.

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Before 2010, the Lib Dems under Nick Clegg also made abolishing tuition fees party policy. Students turned out en masse to vote for him and his party, giving it enough seats to hold the balance of power in the coalition government.

Lib Dems in coalition then maintained tuition fees without a whimper of protest. People didn’t forget. No wonder Clegg lost his Sheffield Hallam seat in 2017 to Labour.

The Lib Dems also went along with massive cuts to council funding, again without a hint of protest. We’ve seen the damage still being done to local services. Yet, in the recent local elections, they claimed to be against cuts – classic hypocrisy.

So I suggest treating any Lib Dem promises with healthy scepticism. As for Change UK, watch it vanish into oblivion as a separate force.

Price to pay for Labour policy

From: Cecil Crinnion, Sycamore Close, Slingsby, York.

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IN reply to Martin Flanagan (The Yorkshire Post, May 30), I am well aware that, at present, 16-year-olds cannot vote in a general election. The Labour Party has tried and failed to lower the voting age to 16, with the move being blocked by Parliament.

The reason why Labour wants the voting age lowered is because it would be to its advantage, as young people see what the Labour Party promises – free university tuition, nationalised utilities and transport profits paid back to the people.

In paying 16-year-olds the full minimum wage, there will be several unintended consequences. It will promote a live-for-today attitude. Young people who have ambition will be pressured into taking unskilled work to help family finances, damaging their future prospects.

Most importantly, employers will obviously prefer to employ older personnel at the same cost (note the high youth unemployment in Europe). So, far from protecting workers’ rights, it will in time have the opposite effect.

Tories must do U-turn on buses

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From: Daniel Vulliamy, chair, Driffield & Rural Branch Labour Party, Brigham, Driffield.

WHAT a depressingly complacent response from Tory councillor and North Yorkshire County Council executive member Don Mackenzie to news that his council’s support for bus services has been cut by 78 per cent in the last six years for which figures are available, presumably because of the economic illiteracy of government “austerity” policies (The Yorkshire Post, June 1).

Tory-controlled rural councils have a huge responsibility here. One of the single most effective and popular ways to address the crisis of climate change would be to introduce zero fees for bus services. It would also play a major role in reviving rural economies. It just takes a little imagination, Don.

Let’s rehouse MPs in Pacers

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

TOM Richmond’s suggestions for the “Perpetuate a Pacer” competition include using one as a retirement home for Macavity Grayling (The Yorkshire Post, June 1) – amen to that! These cut-price regional relics are the embodiment of his and Westminster’s South-centred duplicity.

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We are faced with a bill (today) of £4bn for the very necessary refurbishment of the Westminster complex. Temporary premises will be needed for the incumbents. Would it not be a good idea to shunt a fleet of Pacers into some London siding and let them carry on there?