Sir Keir Starmer

• COUNCILLOR Simon Pearson is absolutely right to say that electric cars are no solution to transport in London or anywhere else, (Letters, April 8).

Although they only pollute cities with debris from their tyres and brakes (apart from silently killing the odd few dozen people a year), they are causing all sorts of global difficulties as companies search for the rare minerals they need.

So I was equally disappointed to see Ed Miliband bothering to even talk about helping people to buy them.

We are now poised for a radical rethink of how we want our country to change in the coming months, and Sir Keir Starmer should be steering the Labour Party into addressing the historic opportunities this presents, every bit as powerfully as the post-WWII Labour government did.

The disastrous impact of Covid-19 on Britain is, in large part, due to the decades of cuts from Tory and Labour governments alike, as neo-liberal economics spread around the world, impacting Britain by destroying and undermining people’s lives solely to allow billionaires to make more billions from people desperately trying to earn a living, as the “gig” economy boomed while property prices soared out of sight as the billionaires zoomed in.

Give the gig economy and property billionaires the boot and start building a world fit for heroes, not just those in the NHS but all the other vital workers who have somehow kept Britain going this last year – yes, including Deliveroo bikers.

Perhaps a starting point would be telling the people that Brexit was and will remain a disaster, as Ireland is showing. It was a Tory ploy to deal with an internal Tory party problem and, like most of their policies, it failed.

Build bridges, not barriers!

We now need a government prepared to join forces with our nearest neighbours as soon as possible and work towards a better future. In the USA, Joe Biden is showing signs of the deep rethinking needed.

Does Sir Keir have the will to bring about such changes? I still live in hope, but it’s wearing thin!

DAVID REED
Eton Avenue, NW3