Constituents deserve to have a say when MPS change their allegiance

SIR – An MP crossing the floor should trigger their resignation from their party and a by-election (“Starmer’s welcome for Elphicke enrages Left”, report, May 9). Voters in Natalie Elphicke’s constituency should now be offered the chance to vote for her or another candidate.

In what other job can you up sticks and work for the competition without resigning? Mike Metcalfe

Butleigh, Somerset

SIR – How many more Tory defections and losses of the whip will it take before a general election is called? Michael Mcgough

Loughton, Essex

SIR – Natalie Elphicke has lots in common with Sir Keir Starmer: principles that bend in the wind; an apparent lack of scruples; and an obvious love for a pointless stunt. Roger Cousins

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

SIR – In striking concern and disbelief into the heart of Labour, while simultaneously uniting the Conservatives in disgust at her self-serving betrayal, Natalie Elphicke has arguably done Rishi Sunak a great service. Chris Whitehouse

London SE11

SIR – The bizarre defection of Natalie Elphicke to a party that she surely despises – judging by her pronouncements in the recent past – encapsulates the terminal rot at the heart of this nation.

We have Conservatives who don’t conserve; Labour for the workshy; liberals wishing to make views outside their self-righteous bubble illegal to express; Greens more interested in alternative lifestyles than ecology; and Reformers who actually want to regress.

Parties are no longer vehicles of principle but teams competing to win power for its own sake by any means necessary. Their purpose is to retain voters whose blind loyalty to a brand dictates their electoral decisions.

Decades ago, there were politicians who had thrown away glittering careers because their sense of duty to the people of this country brought a realisation that their talents would be best deployed in Parliament; building that better tomorrow promised as a just reward for the sacrifices of the Second World War.

Sadly this kind of commitment no longer exists, and current members of both Houses of Parliament seem self-serving and hubristic.

Mark Boyle

Johnstone, Renfrewshire

SIR – Following Natalie Elphicke’s defection to the Labour benches, surely Nigel Farage should represent Reform UK in Dover in the forthcoming general election. G E Allard

Gillingham, Kent