The moving sight of a former Labour MP compelled on principle to reject Corbyn as PM

sir – I was brought to tears by the interview with Ian Austin, the former Labour MP for Dudley, on Breakfast with Kay Burley on Sky News yesterday.

His announcement that he will not be standing for re-election because he believes that Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to be Prime Minister is to be applauded.

How refreshing to see a man of principle put his country before personal ambition – though it is sad that good people feel they have to stand down. Amanda Malas

Hartley, Kent

sir – This election is no longer about Brexit. It is about keeping communism out. Ken Simpson

Northampton

sir – I am fed up of hearing Labour’s proposed spending being described as “investment”.

The majority of the plans give no financial return and fail to cover the cost of borrowing, which is bound to rise with the election of a Labour government.

Spending on health, education, housing and the police produces no compensation for the costs of borrowing, however desirable it may be. But it is too much to expect an honest description of this during a “spend, spend, spend” election, in which votes are being bought from those who don’t expect to foot the bill. Alan Finlay

London NW4

sir – Allister Heath (Comment, November 7) correctly draws attention to the nightmare of Mr Corbyn’s plans for confiscation by nationalisation.

I hope the spotlight will now turn to the damage that would be done to pensions. All private pension schemes – including many whose members might consider themselves natural supporters of Labour – are dependent upon successful investment.

The value of a large part of their assets would be severely impaired at the moment a Corbyn government came into power, while the rest, invested in his target industries, would simply be confiscated. Gordon Brown

Grassington, North Yorkshire

sir – If the Labour Party secures power, will its economic policies reduce unemployment from the current level of 3.8 per cent? Simon Mcilroy

Croydon, Surrey

sir – I seem to recall a time when those fighting an election would boast about what they could and would do if they were fortunate enough to win our backing. Today I can only find pages of hatred directed at opponents. Clive Pilley

Westcliff-on-sea, Essex

sir – The concluding words (“Can you trust a Tory?”) of Sherelle Jacobs’s piece (Comment, November 7) sum up the problem for Brexiteers in Labour heartlands. I fear that for many the answer will be “no”.

Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson need to see sense and put their differences aside. Mr Farage must drop his demands and Mr Johnson must accept that he needs the Brexit Party to wrest seats from Labour in its heartlands. If they don’t – well, Brexit will be the least of our problems. Cliff Peers

Chester-le-street, Co Durham

sir – The Fixed-term Parliaments Act certainly needs repealing – but so do the 25 stipulated working days from Parliament’s prorogation to a general election.

Until 2011, a 17-day period was considered acceptable. We have been in election mode since the June 2017 election, more so since Theresa May’s failure to obtain parliamentary approval a year ago for her Withdrawal Agreement, and still more since Boris Johnson replaced her.

Surely we all know our voting intentions by now. John Birkett

St Andrews, Fife