SIR – Britain had already left the EU when Rishi Sunak became Chancellor .
He therefore had the opportunity to guide our independence in a way he felt fit. So why is he only now promising that by the next election he will have “scrapped or reformed all of the EU law, red tape and bureaucracy that is still on our statute book and slowing economic growth” (report, July 17)?
Dr Andrew McIver
London SW3
SIR – Anyone who wears Prada shoes costing £500 to visit a building site is either unthinking about the task in hand, or has too much money and regards such shoes as throwaway if they are damaged beyond repair, which is most likely after such a visit .
Mr Sunak clearly lives in a very different world to mine.
Heather Erridge
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
SIR – Does it no longer matter that Mr Sunak, the front-runner to be PM, was fined by the police for breaking the Government’s own lockdown rules?
So much for honesty and integrity.
Alan Wilson
Lyne, Surrey
SIR – Kemi Badenoch is criticized for a lack of experience.
Look at Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky – elected as a comedian and ridiculed. He stepped up to become a fantastic leader.
Give someone keen and honest a chance.
Robert Ashton
Oldham, Lancashire
SIR – Before we write off Penny Mordaunt as intellectually not up to the job of PM, bear in mind that Ronald Reagan was never a candidate for Mensa. Despite cerebral limitations, he appointed intelligent and experienced people who pulled together to deliver a hugely respected and successful eight-year presidency.
Leadership and integrity are the key drivers for the new leader of the Conservative Party – not being the brain of Britain.
Alan Ferguson
Hadleigh, Suffolk
SIR – As a current temporary resident of a very well run care home in Cheshire, I am watching the Tory leadership contest with interest.
While there is great enthusiasm for getting rid of the NI increase, meant to address funding issues in social care, I have not heard alternative proposals as to how those challenges will be met.
I do not have a vote in this election. Might I respectfully request that those who do ask candidates to clarify their proposals for social care, for the sake of current and future recipients of it?
Lady Denise Platt
Alsager, Cheshire
SIR – When recruiting staff, I felt that a good test of character and charisma was to imagine which of the candidates would get served first in a busy bar.
Michael Cattell
Mollington, Cheshire
Jobs for Ukrainians
SIR – It is vital that the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party have the situation in Ukraine at the front of their minds.
With Homes for Ukraine coming to the end of its first six months over the summer, now is the moment to create a business sponsorship route to support refugees who want to come to the UK, so that they can be matched with jobs and supported with accommodation .
We urge the next prime minister to ensure that pilots move forward, are quickly evaluated and that a target date is set to get the new route in place. This is critical to guaranteeing support for refugees over a longer time frame.
Moreover, the route would help sectors of our economy most affected by the pandemic to fill vacancies.
It remains vital that those entering under the family route continue to be able to access the support they need.
John Dickie
CEO, London First
Alexander Jan
Chairman, Central District Alliance
Geeta Nanda
CEO, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing
Simon Pitkeathley
CEO, Camden Town Unlimited
Mark Reynolds
Group Chairman and CEO, Mace Group
Emma Degg
CEO, North West Business Leadership Team
Dyan Crowther
CEO, HS1
Henry Murrison
Director, Northern Powerhouse Partnership
Caroline Marais
Group Director of HR, Edwardian Hotels
Robin Mills
Managing Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland
Huan Japes
Membership Director, English UK
Andrea Als
Director, Vialto Partners
Greg Reed
Group CEO, Places for People
Mark Alan
CEO, Landsec
Welsh speed limits
SIR – I live in north Cardiff, where the Welsh parliament’s proposed nationwide 20mph urban speed limit has been on trial for some months (“The insidious spread of 20mph zones is about to backfire badly”, Comment, July 14). I can report that 20mph is clearly an unnaturally slow speed for most vehicles. To maintain it I have to monitor my speedometer constantly, taking my attention away from the road and its other users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
At 20mph, even a slight incline requires a change of gear, thus consuming more petrol and producing more pollutants.
As a result the majority of vehicles now travel at a more natural 25-27mph, reducing to 20mph only for speed cameras or when a learner driver or occasional delivery van heads the resulting nose-to-tail queue, leaving no gaps for side-road vehicles entering or pedestrians attempting to cross.
It is therefore clear to us here that the proposed scheme is pointless, frustrating, and retrograde. But it seems this matters little to our would-be Marxist Senedd, where common sense is clearly in short supply.
Peter Hancock
cardiff
Vape waste
SIR – Consumers are consigning large numbers of disposable vapes to the bin, and ultimately landfill (report, July 15). Around 10 tons of lithium – vital for batteries such as those in electric cars and electronic devices – are being wasted in this way each year.
As a young boy, I remember taking bottles back to the shops and receiving a few pennies in return. This also encouraged me to scout around for bottles other people had left around, and thus boost my pocket money.
Couldn’t there be a similar scheme for vapes?
Jonathan Mann
Gunnislake, Cornwall
Restorative pond
SIR – My little pond (Letters, July 16) has been my great delight – especially earlier this year, after I suffered a stroke. I would watch it for hours.
Ponds attract so much visiting wildlife, from curious moorhens to fragile dragonflies, apart from all the usual beautiful garden birds who drink and bathe.
I’m sure it helped with my recovery.
Jacqueline Davies
Faversham, Kent
Schrodinger’s HMRC
SIR – A recent email from HMRC asked for patience while it sought to resume normal service. It began: “We are still in a recovery position.” This seems appropriate. In that position an individual is usually comatose. But the nice rainbow picture suggests that HMRC has achieved a previously unknown state of being simultaneously woke and comatose.
Peter Gray
Belfast
GI jazz in Britain
SIR – Before he was sent to Europe as “cartoonist at war”, Carl Giles also witnessed US army policies of racial segregation (Letters, July 16).
A keen pianist, he was delighted by the arrival of black GIs in his rural East Anglian village to construct bases for the whites following on. Together they would play jazz in the back room of the local pub, the local farmers crowding in to enjoy the sounds of black America from Harlem to Atlanta. There was no animosity or racism until, after Giles had left for the battlefields, the white GIs arrived and forced the landlady to take down the pictures Giles had drawn of the convivial scenes. There were not even to be illustrations of integration where they drank, never mind any actual black faces.
His friend Johnny Speight, creator of Alf Garnett, also recalled an incident at his local in Suffolk. Newly arrived white GIs threatened to lynch a black GI because he was dating a white girl from the village, until the local bobby intervened and calmly saved the man.
Those who wish to paint Britain, her people and past as irredeemably racist might ponder whether acceptance and integration are helped or prevented by such constant desecration of Britain’s history and heritage. Most resentments and fears are learned, not innate, and we are being taught a daily lesson.
Victor Launert
Matlock Bath, Derbyshire
Cutting corners
SIR – Graham Smelt (Letters, July 15) notes that Canadians use bags of milk in dedicated jugs. This is true. However, it is critical that both corners be snipped so that one can act as a vent while pouring – a messy lesson I learned very quickly when I moved to Canada.
John Gordon
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire