The roots of the Corbyn surge

MUCH has been said and written regarding the late Corbyn surge in support for Labour at the recent General Election. Credit for this has to a large extent been attributed to social media and fresh support from younger voters.

Is anyone surprised? I am sure the tragic event in Manchester on May 22 missed scarcely a teenage handheld smartphone carrying wall-towall coverage of the incident. Not least in this, notably and rightly, Jeremy Corbyn was quick to highlight the foolhardy considerable drop in police numbers throughout England and Wales over recent years.

Twelve days later, the London Bridge incident again offered opportunity for comment on a stretched police force and I expect these same smartphones would be prominent, bringing our recently mentally-scarred youth up to speed on developments affecting our safety and security.

Tragic and unforgettable incidents both, but it is no surprise that as a consequence a youth vote suddenly grasped hope and voted for the party taking a lead on their safety.

Thankfully, in Scotland, and in contrast, police officer numbers have increased considerably over recent years. Tom Gray Braco I WAS surprised the Sunday Herald editorial should suggest that “the SNP must develop policies which provide a vision equal to Corbyn”, considering that Jeremy Corbyn was following the vision provided by several policies which belonged to the SNP (SNP needs vision to rival Labour, Editorial, June 18).

Except, of course, on Trident, which Corbyn opposes, but sadly has been unable to persuade his party to do likewise. Ruth Marr Stirling