The key factors that will decide the next election

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/05/the-key-factors-that-will-decide-the-next-election

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Letters: Bill McGuire on the climate crisis, Jon Griffith and Tony Hinkins on inequality, ‘populism’ and ‘elites’, Margaret Owen on gender equality policies and David Watson on young voters

John Harris talks of capitalism blindsiding its opponents and distracting the public beyond the old opiates of the masses (Elections used to bring us solutions. The next one won’t, Journal, 4 November), but it seems he has been blindsided too. He says this election will be fought primarily around the issues of Brexit, austerity and Scottish independence, or a combination thereof. Nowhere in the piece is there a single mention of the role of the climate emergency, despite a poll just last week flagging that this was very much in the minds of the British public (Climate crisis: Emergency ‘to influence how people vote’, 30 October). With more than half of people in the UK saying that the climate crisis will influence how they vote, rising to nearly three-quarters in the under-25s, it seems to me that this great issue of our time may, in fact, play a key role in deciding who next gets to sit in No 10 – and so it should.Bill McGuireProfessor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards, University College London

• Marina Hyde derides the “dangerous simplification” of others (Three leaders for ‘the people’ and against ‘the elite’. Oh dear, Journal, 2 November) but indulges in an equally dangerous simplification of her own, suggesting Labour’s “populism” is a mirror image of Tory and Brexit rhetoric. This kind of equivalence-mongering doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Most of the millions who vote Labour on 12 December will not be party members, supporters of Momentum, or Corbynistas; they will not have attended any rallies or meetings, or even watched the TV debates. They will be voting Labour because its policies – unsurprisingly for a democratic country’s main left-of-centre party – promise greater economic and social benefits to more people (and especially to the less wealthy) than those of its opponents. To call this “populism”, in the sense that Johnson and Farage are populist, is playing games with language.Jon GriffithHastings, East Sussex

• Marina Hyde fails to separate the two “elites”: (1) The financial elite (the people who are perceived to have the major influence over the country’s capital) – these are the target for the left; (2) The intellectual elite (the people who are perceived to have the major influence over the country’s thought) – these are the target for the right. A separation of these two “elites” in political discourse is long overdue.Tony HinkinsFrodsham, Cheshire

• There can be no fair democratic society without women’s equality central to it. The one factor that should make a difference to the vote is where each party stands on policies for gender equality and women’s empowerment, but your article omits this as a factor in predicting the election result (Confusing factors: An unpredictable race for No 10 has crucial hurdles for the whole field, 31 October).

In 2010 the Conservatives abolished the Women’s National Commission (WNC), in breach of the UK’s international obligations under the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), leaving UK women with no institutional mechanism to represent us. We women and girls have suffered most from the Tory austerity cuts, and female MPs face brutal abuse. We are more than 50% of the population, and we will vote for the party that most supports women’s human rights and will restore the WNC, or its substitute, as required by international laws. We are ashamed, as we embark on the review of implementation of the BPfA 25 years after its adoption, that the UK is showing such indifference to this groundbreaking UN document to give women their human rights. The party that will support us women will have my vote.Margaret OwenDirector, Widows for Peace through Democracy

• When it comes to voting intentions, forget about Workington Man who threatens to forgo the Labour party and vote for a rightwing Tory who will destroy the remains of his life. Since the last election there have been three and half years of young people entering the voting register. They will be the deciding factor in this election. They are more aware of the environment and the effect on their future. Look out for a lot of surprises.David WatsonNutley, East Sussex