Keir Starmer’s rousing call for “a decade of national renewal” noted that “democratic rules, democratic values, democratic certainties are under attack”, denounced “the shallow men and women of Westminster” and promised to build a new “partnership between people and politics” (Starmer woos Tory voters as he declares ‘fire of change still burns in Britain’, 10 October). But neither he nor those behind him have yet spelt out how they will transform the way Westminster works, or how our overcentralised government runs Britain.
Unless Labour is ready to change the way the UK is governed, and how we recruit and elect our politicians, we may reach the end of a decade of national renewal with an unavoidably disillusioned public turning back to a reinvigorated and more rightwing Conservative party, for lack of any alternative.
A new partnership between people and politics, if the phrase means anything, must include a House of Commons less dominated by government, a revival of local government across the country, and a more open and democratic system for electing politicians and holding them to account – and, of course, a replacement of the Lords by an effective second chamber.
William Wallace
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords
• You keep asking Keir Starmer to be “bolder”, with “fresh policies” (Editorial, 10 October). They’re the wrong priorities. When you take over a rotting property you have to put all the effort into bread-and-butter things first – clear out the stinking rubbish, new damp-proof course, get proper electricity/gas/water supplies, fix rotting floorboards, etc. The new owner will usually discover horrible stuff that’s been hidden away, far worse than the obvious problems. Stabilisation and fixing the basics are the name of the game for quite a while.
Peter Brooker
West Wickham, London
• Keir Starmer gave a good speech to the Labour conference. However, full national renewal will take a few more things: constitutional changes to stop a repeat of the flagrant illegality we saw in the Johnson era; rejoining the EU single market and customs union, generally regarded as a precondition for business revival; and rationalisation of our school system to sort out the chaotic mixture of academies, free and grammar schools.
Andrew McLuskey
Ashford, Surrey
• The general consensus is that Keir Starmer recovered well after a protester showered him with glitter just before his speech. Easy for me to say, but I feel he missed a trick – he could have welcomed the conference to a glittering future.
Cynthia Gallaway
Twickenham, London
• Keir Starmer rightly berates Rishi Sunak for having no idea how most people live, but isn’t he also a little out of touch if he thinks that living in a pebble-dashed semi is a mark of being “humble”, ie lower-class (Key points from Keir Starmer’s speech at the Labour conference, 10 October)?
Margaret Dickinson
London
• So Rachel Reeves says we need an iron chancellor (Report, 9 October). Iron is cold, heartless and inflexible. Didn’t we have enough of that in the 80s? After the brutalities of the last 10 years, what we need is compassionate courage and wisdom.
Prof Paul Gilbert
Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby
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