Has Labour been left a spent force or can it regain its traditional voters?

IS LABOUR capable of honest reflection after its defeats at Hartlepool and around the country? I fear not. It’s no longer a party of the people, but has been taken over by individuals with extreme views who are blinded by fanaticism. Labour has a clear choice should it wish to become acceptable at the ballot box again: get rid of the extremists. Returning to its root beliefs would be an attractive proposition for its traditional voters. We need an Opposition to hold the Government to account.

MICK TEDDER, Dover, Kent. I COME from a Geordie coal miner family with generations of staunch Labour supporters. Initially, I was pleased that, in Keir Starmer, Labour finally had a leader in whom I could have confidence. But his whinging about Boris’s handling of the pandemic has made me turn blue.

PAT ROSS, Oxford. I CAN’T believe some Labour MPs are advocating a return

to hard Left-wing policies in the hope of regaining votes. Can’t they see that’s what started their demise?

CATHERINE BROWN, Helston, Cornwall. HOW can reshuffling the Shadow Cabinet stop the horrendous decline in Labour’s popularity? I couldn’t pick out most of them in an identity parade. I can’t believe Labour is seeking to re-join the EU just as most of the country is pleased to have left it, having seen how Europe has insulted and threatened us at every opportunity since Brexit.

ANN FIELD, Manchester. I’M NOT a Labour voter, but I believe a strong Opposition makes for better government. Keir Starmer appears out of his depth. With the hard-Left pressing for more extreme policies, Labour has lost its way.

CHRIS SHARP, Leeds. CONSERVATIVES did well in the elections because they have moved from being a party of the posh and privileged to one trying to help all the people. I am from a working-class background, but wouldn’t dream of voting Labour. There is no possibility it could have done as good a job with the vaccination rollout and furlough scheme as the Tories.

CHRIS DILNOT, Brinsley, Notts. LABOUR will not return to power while union leaders and Corbynites hold the balance of power. Sadly, there isn’t an

Opposition MP capable of duelling with Boris Johnson in the Commons.

KATHRYN NEND, Birmingham. WHAT’S the point of changing the Shadow Cabinet if Labour doesn’t have any policies?

BRIAN BEST, High Wycombe, Bucks. NO LABOUR Party in my lifetime has convinced me it has any other idea beyond spending everyone else’s money. It’s also been the architect of PC and Woke. The country should be celebrating its demise, not holding a post-mortem as to why it hasn’t grown out of student rabble-rousing.