As you report (Will Grenfell sway the vote?, 2 May), the local council elections here in Kensington and Chelsea are a tight race between the two main parties. Though a former Conservative MP, I will be voting Labour. The Tories are caught in a trap of their own making. “Do not vote on national issues,” they instruct us. “Vote on how we’ve run your local council.” So let us do as they ask, overlooking the scandalous suffering they have caused to the Windrush generation and their surrender to the fanatical Moggites over Brexit.
Towering over this borough are the charred remains of Grenfell, a horrific and totally avoidable tragedy in which 71 people lost their lives. Grenfell is a constant reminder of the Kensington Tory council’s disgraceful penny-pinching over its so-called “renovation” and the appalling mismanagement of the fire’s aftermath, of its neglect in caring for and rehousing the traumatised survivors. Even the Tory government has condemned and disowned it, with the new home secretary describing its behaviour as “totally unacceptable”.
Keith Raffan
London
• Your leader (The Conservatives expect a bad night on Thursday. And they deserve one, 30 April) does a serious disservice to your readers, and to democracy. These are local elections. The issues, and the politics, are as varied as the communities going to the polls. In Sheffield, for example, the Labour council’s enthusiastic backing for the cutting down of trees by a private contractor looms large. There are no Tory councillors now. There will be none on 4 May. In other cities, towns and villages, Tory councils are hugely unpopular for local reasons, but Labour is not the main opposition.
Across the country there are hardworking, much-valued councillors who do not represent the Conservatives or Labour, or any party at all, who deserve to be, and will be, elected and re-elected on their own merits. And there are councillors who deserve to be removed because they’ve failed to properly serve the people who elected them. Voters are choosing individuals to represent their local communities. A lot of their work will be about intensely local issues.
Our national political system is in a state of crisis and discontent is almost universal. But local elections can’t resolve that and shouldn’t be tainted by it. We desperately need stronger, more effective local government. That has to start with local elections electing the best possible councillors as representatives of their communities.
Natalie Bennett
(Former leader, Green party of England and Wales), Sheffield
• Boundary changes and a reduction in the number of city councillors have certainly made Birmingham less predictable than usual. This is especially so in Sutton Coldfield. Boundary changes in the constituency have favoured Labour.
Beyond this, Sutton has the largest town council population in the country, currently dominated by highly partisan Tories, and Labour has reached an agreement with the other smaller parties not to fight each other. PR would be better, but if the agreement works, it may provide a template for future cooperation which may encourage Labour nationally to take a more benign view of collaboration with other parties in the national interest than it has shown to date. The town council result will be announced on Saturday morning. Watch with interest. It may be a pointer to the future.
Roy Boffy
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
• Your leader writer’s pro-Labour prejudices were exposed with the disingenuous suggestion that remain supporters should show their opposition to the party of Brexit by voting Labour. But Labour is also a party of Brexit, as shown by the sacking of Owen Smith for backing a second referendum. Remain supporters should vote for a party that supports remain: the Greens or the Lib Dems.
Dudley Miles
London
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