Readers' letters - March 21

Is Theresa May a leader lacking in good judgment?

A further embarrassing U-turn by the Government has led to more upsets amongst Theresa May’s back benchers.

Following on from the budget, which saw Chancellor Philip Hammond hastily rewrite his own budget, backing down from the national insurance scandal, comes a new row over school funding.

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Upsetting her own back benchers yet again, May has announced a policy that is unpopular in the country, and also within her own party and Government.

It seems unwise to introduce a policy that education experts say will see schools face the most disastrous cuts in a generation.

This is due to a policy decision not to maintain current real terms spending per pupil funding levels. On average it appears that secondary schools will lose six teachers while each primary school will lose two.

It reverses the spending of the last Labour Government which famously invested heavily in education. Even under the coalition Government, the budget was largely protected – not any longer.

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To make matters worse, the current Government has also embarked on a shake-up of the funding formula that will see money taken away from existing, successful schools and handed to others in more rural areas.

Inevitably Tory back benchers are panicking about their own areas and are urging the Education Secretary to re-think the policy. The Government’s consultation period ends next week. The expected U- turn, I guess, will follow the following week.

Is Mrs May a leader lacking good judgement or are her Chancellor and Education Secretary not up to their jobs, or both?

Marjorie Nye

Address supplied

Ownership should be public

Re: Rail Delivery Group claiming to increase capacity by 6,400 trains a week.

Like most people we

will believe this when we see it.

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There simply aren’t the trains and staff available to make this plan happen.

Fault for that lies smack at the door of over two decades of privatisation.

The train operators are already struggling to run current services and timetables due to a chronic lack of investment and the drive across the industry is to hack back on staff in the search for fatter profits.

Our guards are in the front line of that attack on jobs and safety.

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Like so much of the spin from our rip-off private train companies, these big promises of additional capacity are doomed to turn to dust.

With the British public paying the highest fares in Europe to travel on rammed-out and unreliable trains, the only solution to this on-going transport crisis is public ownership.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash

via email

Please consider vision services

I am writing to you regarding vision rehabilitation services for blind and partially sighted people living in my local area.

When a person loses their sight, this can be a life-changing experience.

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Vision rehabilitation offers invaluable support, equipping people with the skills and confidence to live independently.

This can reduce, prevent or delay the need for more expensive care support in future.

As national charity RNIB has stated, blind and partially sighted people are at risk of being left behind unless these services are properly resourced.

I understand that councils across England are now deciding on their budgets for the coming year, and urge our local council to ensure that vision rehabilitation services are properly funded and supported.

If anyone else would like to do the same, or find out more about this campaign, they can go to www.rnib.org.uk/seeandplan or contact the RNIB Campaigns Team on 020 7391 2123.

Ariel Goldmann

via email