Labour lacks the moral courage to enact the reform that Britain needs
Sir – Along with Wes Streeting and Liz Kendall, it looks as if Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor, is beginning to grasp the scale of the problems that this country faces (report, March 19). There is talk of supply-side reform and a 1979 moment.
The parts of the economy most clearly in need of reform are, of course, the public sector and a welfare system that facilitates idleness. Will an incoming Labour administration have the moral courage to really get to grips with these? Will the entrenched vested-interest groups allow it?
We do need a 1979 moment, but I’m not sure that Sir Keir Starmer is the person to see it through. Patrick Loxdale
Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire
Sir – It might be worth reminding ourselves that, after Margaret Thatcher won the general election in May 1979, Britain’s economic growth began to fall, dropping into negative territory during 1980. Thereafter, growth resumed, assisted not only by a firm hand on the tiller but also the flow of revenues from North Sea oil. It is hard to see the UK economy receiving such a boost in the forthcoming years – quite the reverse if net zero is a central plank of policy. Rod Barrett
Bromley, Kent
Sir – I find it sadly ironic that the shadow chancellor has sought to invoke the memory and spirit of 1979 and the arrival of Margaret Thatcher’s dynamic government to replace James Callaghan’s tired, union-hamstrung administration.
But surely the 1974 general election is a much more apt analogy, with Harold Wilson replacing Ted Heath.
We all know how well that worked out.
Guildford, Surrey the case for better control of defence spending, highlights a major problem that seems to affect every branch of government.
Conservative governments used to be better than Labour at controlling wasteful spending, but that was before the party was hijacked by social democrats who ignored the basic truth that government has no money of its own. The net result has been that, over the past two decades, the economy has been sacrificed in favour of social engineering, virtue-signalling and vanity projects. This problem will not be resolved by dispatching the Tories into the political wilderness for a few years.
Genuine, dyed-in-the-wool Conservative voters must summon up the courage to vote positively for a party that offers a chance of a return to sensible, patriotic policies. Currently, the only option would seem to be Reform UK. John Waine
Nuneaton, Warwickshire