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May’s legacy is a country that’s stagnated

By the time people read this letter not only will Mrs May will have relinquished her leadership of the Conservative Party, but the country will have a new Prime Minister.

After squandering a comfortable majority in the House of Commons, David Cameron resigned and Mrs May was crowned leader and prime minister.

I well remember her, with husband dutifully two steps behind, announcing to the press on the tarmac outside No10 what Brexit meant.

While her tenacity and conviction have been evident for all to see, she will not be remembered for these admirable qualities but for her foolish decision to have a general election a couple of years ago.

This left her dangerously exposed as she was unable to control the MPs of her own party.

Consequently we have had much vital time when important legislation could for example to solve the vitally important issues of housing shortage or care quality.

Instead the country has stagnated, we have all become poorer and politically we have become a joke, not only in Europe but across the globe.

That might take our minds from the fact that we are no better off than ten years ago when the Tories too control. Their choice of weapon to fight the global financial problems was austerity, it wasn’t the only tool they could have chosen. So, after getting on for ten years of destroying public services and dangerously reducing our armed forces that the public rely on, we have to ask the question: was it worth it?

It would be too easy to make a (long) list of wasted opportunities by Mrs May and her Tory government. So, I would rather concentrate on her positives, something descriptive and enduring that encapsulates the Conservatives. She at a party conference described politicians like herself, ‘members of the nasty party’, a fitting, lasting legacy.

Bob Pixton, Abney Moor, Liden

We’ve been speaking out on the climate for years

Chris Gleed asks why Extinction Rebellion do not write to their MPs to make their point.

Well Mr Gleed, speaking as somebody who is not an XR member but knows many people who are and support their aims, I ask you what you think we have been doing?

For the last 30 years or more, many of us have been writing to our MPs and getting replies along the lines of “The UK has the best environmental laws in the world”.

I believe this is intended to make people seem patriotic when they point out that this is not true. Over the years I have heard claims from politicians on many subjects that “we are/have the best XXX in the world”. They are almost always wrong.

So when the politicians ignore the facts what are we supposed to do?

I am glad that some people have the courage to face arrest, and can find the time for these protests.

The time for action against climate change is now. (20 or 30 years ago would have been better but that boat has sailed.)

As for people being held, they need to look at more than the next hour or two.

Will they be stuck in traffic jams in 20 years time or starving at home after global supply chains collapse?

We cannot eat money …..

Howard March, Tudor Crescent, Stratton St Margaret

Crisis started here...

In July 2019 the Iranian tanker Grace 1 was impounded by British Marines while passing Gibraltar in international waters.

This started an international row with Iran.

In response Iran has now impounded a British tanker in the Straits of Hormuz but there can be no doubt that this crisis was started by Britain.

It seems to be the Remainers in the British government that are most belligerent in their language towards Iran.

Brexiteers have made it very clear that they don’t want war with Iran.

It is a mystery as to why Remainers should be trying to push Britain towards war just as Britain is trying to negotiate a leave agreement with the EU.

Steve Halden, Beaufort Green