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| Sharing EU platforms with Conservatives could damage the Labour party | |
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| The Labour party should be wary of sharing a platform with the Tory remain campaign (Can Cameron keep Britain in Europe?, 31 May). One reason for Labour’s collapse in Scotland was the damage done by sharing views and positions with the Tories in that referendum campaign. There is a strong, cogent left argument for staying in, much of which revolves around what the Tories would do to our rights if our electoral dictatorship were untrammeled by any external restraining influence – an unspoken driver of the rightwing Brexiters. Osborne shedding crocodile tears for pension rights he has been instrumental in eroding is just one example of the rank hypocrisy of the Tory remain position. Seeing both parties putting differences aside to campaign together serves to reinforce the sense of an establishment indifferent to the legitimate concerns of large parts of Labour support, and crucially ex-support, in the country: those who have been left behind by the brand of globalisation promoted by the Tories since 1979 and taken up by Labour from 1997. Seeing serious politicians like Sadiq Khan standing together with David Cameron so shortly after enduring a monstering by the Tories can only blur the genuine differences between them and reinforce the insidious critique that they’re all the same and nothing can change.Stephanie RussonHarpenden, Hertfordshire | The Labour party should be wary of sharing a platform with the Tory remain campaign (Can Cameron keep Britain in Europe?, 31 May). One reason for Labour’s collapse in Scotland was the damage done by sharing views and positions with the Tories in that referendum campaign. There is a strong, cogent left argument for staying in, much of which revolves around what the Tories would do to our rights if our electoral dictatorship were untrammeled by any external restraining influence – an unspoken driver of the rightwing Brexiters. Osborne shedding crocodile tears for pension rights he has been instrumental in eroding is just one example of the rank hypocrisy of the Tory remain position. Seeing both parties putting differences aside to campaign together serves to reinforce the sense of an establishment indifferent to the legitimate concerns of large parts of Labour support, and crucially ex-support, in the country: those who have been left behind by the brand of globalisation promoted by the Tories since 1979 and taken up by Labour from 1997. Seeing serious politicians like Sadiq Khan standing together with David Cameron so shortly after enduring a monstering by the Tories can only blur the genuine differences between them and reinforce the insidious critique that they’re all the same and nothing can change.Stephanie RussonHarpenden, Hertfordshire |
| • Having shared a platform with Sadiq Khan, who he suggested was unfit for the office of London mayor due to his supposed links with extremists, surely David Cameron is now – by his own definition – unfit for the office of prime minister?Scott FullerLondon | • Having shared a platform with Sadiq Khan, who he suggested was unfit for the office of London mayor due to his supposed links with extremists, surely David Cameron is now – by his own definition – unfit for the office of prime minister?Scott FullerLondon |
| • Now we know Sadiq Khan does share platforms with dodgy people, as was claimed during the London mayoral election. He’s appearing with the prime minister.Simon HunterBrookmans Park, Hertfordshire | • Now we know Sadiq Khan does share platforms with dodgy people, as was claimed during the London mayoral election. He’s appearing with the prime minister.Simon HunterBrookmans Park, Hertfordshire |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |