Readers' letters - April 17

I have voted Conservative all my life but I would have to think hard if there was an election tomorrow.

Why are bursaries being removed from trainee nurses?

Why aren’t minimum wages made at such a level as to be livable on?

Why aren’t all primary school children given free school meals so as to remove the stigma for those who receive them?

Why remove some disability payments from those who are genuinely disabled?

Why is speeding above 30mph not given a severe penalty to discourage those who do?

Why is the NHS and elderly care always short of money?

And why is this not being sorted?

Perhaps leadership is at fault. Maybe a new leader is required who has energy and enthusiasm to do the right thing.

So how do we pay for all this?

Most people are going to need the NHS and care in old age so why not have a special tax band for those earning over £25,000 a year.

Those paying it will be paying for their future care for the majority grow old and will need it.

When I was a boy, the wife and mother stayed at home to provide a happy home life and cared for both young and old. The wage earner received enough pay to cover all the bills but nowadays it takes two earners to pay the bills so no-one is at home doing the caring.

So let’s do the right thing.

After all, Theresa May, in her opening speech as PM, said: “Let us be the Party for everyone not just the privileged few.”

John Redfearn

via email

Brexit and impact on economy

The weekly shop is getting more expensive, as food prices saw the biggest increase for three years, figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed.

Food and drink prices rose by 1.2 per cent. Meanwhile wage growth is expected to slow, leaving people worse off in real terms.

The figures come as British retailers suffer a third consecutive month of falling sales, with takings down one per cent compared to March last year.

The Brexit squeeze of a falling pound and rising import costs is hitting families, with higher prices in the shops denting incomes and leaving us all poorer.

This is deeply worrying news for our economy, which has been propped up by consumer spending.

The Government must urgently act to reverse this growing squeeze on living standards. The best way to protect British consumers and businesses would be to change course on Brexit and fight to stay in the Single Market. You can’t have a hard Brexit and a strong economy.

Kamran Hussain

Address supplied

Leave space for wheelchairs

Re: vehicles parking on pavements.

Those who leave space on the pavement for one wheelchair to pass seem to forget that wheelchairs are not programmed to follow each other and sometimes meet going in opposite directions, so space for two wheelchairs to pass each other safely is the minimum space required.

To my knowledge motorists only pay road tax – use of pavements is for the use of those who are not motorists.

This is for safety reasons.

Don Webb

via email

Keep Holy Week free of sport

Is it acceptable that professional sport can be allowed on two of the holiest days in the calendar, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, in a supposedly Christian society?

There is ample time on Saturday and Monday for matches to be scheduled without encroaching on to sacred festivals.

AS

Address supplied