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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/04/wealth-inequality-was-behind-brexit-vote
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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Wealth inequality was behind Brexit vote | Wealth inequality was behind Brexit vote |
| (5 days later) | |
| Letters | Letters |
| Sun 4 Feb 2018 17.22 GMT | Sun 4 Feb 2018 17.22 GMT |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 15.27 GMT | |
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| The Guardian persistently fails to understand the core reason for the Brexit vote (This leaked Brexit memo means Labour must make a choice, 30 January); it was never all about immigration; it was always about wealth inequality. That’s it. People who are well off don’t care a hoot where someone is from or the colour of their skin. So, instead of your writers endlessly worrying about Labour’s admittedly equally split take on the issue, can I suggest they take a wider and longer term view of what Labour should be doing? | The Guardian persistently fails to understand the core reason for the Brexit vote (This leaked Brexit memo means Labour must make a choice, 30 January); it was never all about immigration; it was always about wealth inequality. That’s it. People who are well off don’t care a hoot where someone is from or the colour of their skin. So, instead of your writers endlessly worrying about Labour’s admittedly equally split take on the issue, can I suggest they take a wider and longer term view of what Labour should be doing? |
| Brexit is Britain’s ideal opportunity to completely reset its relationship with capitalism, and lead the world while doing it. You don’t have to be some manic red-under-the-bed to see that capitalism has run its natural course. Growth and consumerism as we know it is over. Why? Because the planet simply won’t support it. And the EU is irredeemably capitalist in outlook. So it is not up to Labour to wriggle around Brexit like the Tories do – as if this were some square-peg-in-a-round-hole problem; it is up to Labour to correctly identify the long-term goal of weaning everyone away from the capitalist mindset and to work on positive and statesmanlike manifesto pledges based on a climate-sustainable, cooperative-based and (where possible) equal-pay-for-all economy. And it is surely up to the Guardian to at least voice these ideas. Absolutely no one else is.Mark BirkettRochdale, Lancashire | Brexit is Britain’s ideal opportunity to completely reset its relationship with capitalism, and lead the world while doing it. You don’t have to be some manic red-under-the-bed to see that capitalism has run its natural course. Growth and consumerism as we know it is over. Why? Because the planet simply won’t support it. And the EU is irredeemably capitalist in outlook. So it is not up to Labour to wriggle around Brexit like the Tories do – as if this were some square-peg-in-a-round-hole problem; it is up to Labour to correctly identify the long-term goal of weaning everyone away from the capitalist mindset and to work on positive and statesmanlike manifesto pledges based on a climate-sustainable, cooperative-based and (where possible) equal-pay-for-all economy. And it is surely up to the Guardian to at least voice these ideas. Absolutely no one else is.Mark BirkettRochdale, Lancashire |
| • Jeremy Corbyn’s antipathy towards the EU is understandable: an unlimited labour supply and freedom to locate factories anywhere in the EU prevents British workers benefiting financially from a growing economy and shrinking population. Except that EU law, if applied, mitigates our attraction to migrant labour: migrants may rely on the host nation’s welfare system for only three months before being economically self-supporting, and must have comprehensive medical insurance before arriving. The fact that we don’t enforce this is our fault, not the EU’s. | • Jeremy Corbyn’s antipathy towards the EU is understandable: an unlimited labour supply and freedom to locate factories anywhere in the EU prevents British workers benefiting financially from a growing economy and shrinking population. Except that EU law, if applied, mitigates our attraction to migrant labour: migrants may rely on the host nation’s welfare system for only three months before being economically self-supporting, and must have comprehensive medical insurance before arriving. The fact that we don’t enforce this is our fault, not the EU’s. |
| If we were to operate EU migration law fully and reinstate the contributory basis of our welfare system as intended by its Labour architects, we’d have a system that supported effort and discouraged sloth, irrespective of nationality, and one that the Labour party could support without reservation. I would re-join the party if they did.Michael HeatonWarminster, Wiltshire | If we were to operate EU migration law fully and reinstate the contributory basis of our welfare system as intended by its Labour architects, we’d have a system that supported effort and discouraged sloth, irrespective of nationality, and one that the Labour party could support without reservation. I would re-join the party if they did.Michael HeatonWarminster, Wiltshire |
| • Despite the veneer of public school manners, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s unfounded accusations of politically biased analysis by civil servants (Report, 2 February) is not so different from the crude accusations Donald Trump directs at any public servant whose findings disagree with his own opinions. If this is allowed to continue we are on a very slippery slope indeed.Patrick CosgroveBucknell, Shropshire | • Despite the veneer of public school manners, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s unfounded accusations of politically biased analysis by civil servants (Report, 2 February) is not so different from the crude accusations Donald Trump directs at any public servant whose findings disagree with his own opinions. If this is allowed to continue we are on a very slippery slope indeed.Patrick CosgroveBucknell, Shropshire |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |
| Brexit | Brexit |
| Article 50 | Article 50 |
| European Union | European Union |
| Foreign policy | Foreign policy |
| Poverty | Poverty |
| Inequality | Inequality |
| letters | letters |
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