YP Letters: We must be brave enough for real election debate

IT is no wonder so many people are disillusioned with politics today. “Strong and stable government” becomes “do the opposite of what you have said”.

There is nothing new about this and the current Prime Minister is in good company. In 1997 Tony Blair was elected and despite promises to change politics he continued the same Tory policies for a further two years before introducing PFI schemes; tying public services to crippling repayments; privatisation in the NHS; tuition fees and wars. The world is still dealing with the consequences of his foreign policies. He now has the audacity to comment on the values of others. It is incredible, but then politics has become a surreal TV show!

Politics has to be brave enough for real policy debate without resorting to name-calling or wild conjecture presented as fact. We are all to blame for the current childish level of political debate. We need debate about what type of society we all want to live in, about quality of life. It is about the greed of the wealthiest few or a nation for everyone?

We need a ‘united, strong and stable’ opposition to deliver a Labour government able to help old and young alike.

From: David Collins, Scissett.

I ACCUSE all major political parties for at least 40 years of misleading the public. Whether by deliberate lies, oversight, or not understanding the problem, they have failed to finance public services, in particular the health and education sectors.

Margaret Thatcher tried to sell off the national assets, and even managed to convince people to buy shares in businesses they already owned. One-off gains don’t change the funding issues. This has gone on until today when bits of the NHS and education sectors are being privatised. In the end, this will only cost more because of profit funding. The next step was to invent new taxes.

Sorry, but the only way to pay for the current mess is for all mainline taxes to be raised. Income tax and corporation tax basic rate should be raised by say two per cent.

National Insurance should go up by one per cent for both employees and employers, self-employed by two per cent.

The Government should stop messing with benefits and reduce them by two per cent across the board. I can’t think of any politician who has the guts to agree with me and is willing to say so publicly.

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

THERESA May, as Home Secretary, cut funding to the police and as a result crime, whatever she may say, has risen and there are areas in our major cities where I would be very reluctant to walk.

Foreign aid is out of hand and yet she chooses to continue doling out millions to be wasted by corrupt leaders. The NHS struggles on and does a fantastic job despite it being underfunded. Yet how can anyone in their right mind vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s vision of a British Socialist Republic where everything is State-run and the likes of Len McCluskey rule supreme?

Sadly the Lib Dems, Greens and Ukip could never muster enough support to be other than a token opposition. I, therefore, feel obliged to cast my vote to the right of centre and Mrs May can have it very reluctantly.

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley.

WHEN a young man, I was not eligible to vote until I reached the age of 21. Thus the gateway to voting arrived in September 1963, enabling me to vote in the 1964 general election.

I had completed a college course and had my head filled with socialist propaganda by the left-wing lecturers, as they do every year to vulnerable students. So I voted Labour, copying my parents, Harold Wilson was the victor and formed his first government.

It only took two years of socialism in the raw, and two left-wing budgets, to convert me and my parents to lifelong Conservative Party supporters.

From my first general election through all 13 subsequent votes, there has been a recurring theme – a repetitive deception by Labour on Tory plans for the NHS. My party has been falsely branded as destroyers, wreckers, under-funders, privatisers etc, of our respected NHS.

Here we go again – standard election mistruths, all done to con the youth of the UK, playing on their inexperience, gullibility and naivety.

From: Adrian F Sunman, South Collingham, Newark, Nottinghamshire.

WITH respect to Jayne Dowle (The Yorkshire Post, May 8), Theresa May probably doesn’t have an agenda which is specifically geared to women, but that’s not a fault in itself.

What the country needs in the months and years to come is a strong, capable, leader who will do what is best for the nation as a whole in the challenging times which lie ahead.

On June 8, the electorate will have a choice between just such a leader and one who is more interested in the politics of class jealousy and economics which don’t stack up.

Jayne, like everyone else, must decide for herself but I know which I’d rather have.

From: Barrie Crowther, Walton, Wakefield.

WITH every political party promising to throw money at public services, especially the NHS, where is this money to be targeted?

Unfortunately when these organisations receive money it never filters down to frontline staff. Managers award themselves eight, 10 or 12 per cent or more while the actual grafters get one or two per cent. This and the extortionate prices paid by government departments for goods and services needs the full scrutiny of the MPs in
 charge.

While ever MPs rely on the Civil Service for information, distribution and funds they leave themselves wide open to not being able to decipher facts. A more hands-on approach is needed from those Ministers.