YP Letters: Little new in parties' bribes to electorate

I NEVER thought I’d sympathise with Theresa May but when she called the election Labour were trailing badly in opinion polls and their leader looked weak.

I don’t recall leading Conservatives arguing against calling an election and I suspect other Cabinet members would have gone to the polls had they led the party. Like Murder on the Orient Express “it wasn’t one – it was all of them?”

As for young people being bribed by Labour, we still have no firm evidence from pollsters that youth voted differently through so-called bribes. Young people are more likely to vote Labour (or Green) anyway.

It’s just as true to say that us pensioners were bribed by keeping the Winter Fuel Allowance and ‘triple lock’ on pensions. Remember that when it comes to bribes, offering the right to buy council houses at massive discounts put Margaret Thatcher into Downing Street in 1979. In the 2015 election the Conservatives made much of Ed Miliband relying on SNP votes if he won. It wasn’t likely but the mud stuck. He lost. So it is richly ironical that a Conservative Prime Minister now relies on DUP votes; an even more doubtful political outfit.

It is unbelievable but it is real.

From: Robert Bottamley, Thorn Road, Hedon.

IN his letter regarding Brexit (The Yorkshire Post, June 13), John Cole observes that the Prime Minister ‘has no clear mandate’. If your correspondent here means to suggest that Theresa May’s failure to obtain a majority in the General Election invalidates the UK’s decision to leave the EU then he is profoundly mistaken: that decision remains legitimate, irrespective of whoever occupies 10 Downing Street; nor (as he implies) is its validity compromised by the closeness of the outcome.

On grounds that the country remains divided over Brexit, Mr Cole draws the false corollary that the UK should abandon plans to leave the EU. If mere disagreement constituted reasonable grounds for abandoning political decisions then precious few would ever be acted upon.

From: John Riseley, Harcourt Drive, Harrogate.

IT is ironic that an election in which voters indicated their acceptance of Brexit may have undermined the Government’s capacity to deliver a meaningful Brexit. This means that those who want a substantial reduction in immigration can no longer afford to view this issue solely through the prism of Brexit.

It remains to be seen whether the Tories are too much in the pocket of the pro-immigration lobby and of small employers to achieve much here. But if they are not seen at least to try very hard then, they will enter the next election as known serial liars on immigration control.

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

IN my time, I have lived through the UK being “the sick man of Europe”, “the litter king of Europe” and now “the laughing stock of Europe”.

We have been here before, but I am sure we will survive. The next five years will be grim, but once totally out of the EU, we will become Great Britain again, despite our politicians.

From: Aled Jones, Southcliffe Road, Bridlington.

IF Theresa May is her party’s future, Conservative MPs are living in a dream world. In a society edging towards another socialist government, the lady is too ‘Thatcherite’ to be the answer. Frankly, the Conservatives will not become a force again until they select a leader from their left wing.

Failure to do this will result in a victory for Jeremy Corbyn at the next election.

From: Mr R Billups, East Avenue, Rawmarsh.

SIR Bernard Ingham got the election spot on as he and he alone said Theresa May and Maggie Thatcher were like two peas in a pod (The Yorkshire Post, June 14). May did what Thatcher would have done if she’d stayed on for the 1992 election. As it was Maggie did her last tango in Paris while Theresa did her last tango in Halifax.

From: Nigel Boddy, Darlington.

THE Lib Dems received 10 times as many votes on election day as the DUP. They are the obvious coalition partners for the Conservatives as only a Lib Dem Tory coalition works mathematically anyway.

Now Tim Farron has decided to resign (The Yorkshire Post, June 15), we need a Lib Dem coronation of a new leader, not an election amongst the Lib Dem members. That can only be achieved by the 14 Lib Dem MPs coming together and only one putting their name forward as new leader before close of nominations. The country requires this for the sake of everyone.

From: Alan Disberry, Sheffield.

CERTAIN politicians are saying that there is no appetite for another election, despite the fact there was a 68.7 per cent turnout at the recent General Election (the highest since 1997), and an impressive 72.2 per cent for the Brexit referendum. It would seem that it’s the politicians that don’t want elections, in order to save their political skin, and not the electorate.

As the city region experiment in Yorkshire seems to be foundering on the rocks, it would seem that the electorate of Yorkshire ought to be given a referendum for a real alternative: a parliament for Yorkshire. Let the electorate decide what’s good for our great county and not the politicians.

From: B Murray, Halifax Road, Grenoside, Sheffield.

I AGREE with the lady (The Yorkshire Post, June 10) who 
said that students should have 
a postal vote as they are distorting the results in university areas.

From: Ruthven Urquhart,High Hunsley, Cottingham.

YET again, the opinion polls have proved to be a complete and utter waste of time, money and resources. Is there really any point in this archaic frivolity being continued?