Letter: Labour party has a duty to question, probe and eliminate

I found the explanation beyond worrying. There is a lot going on right now, and a lot that 'Jezza' should be questioning. But not from that position. It is essential that there a strong opposition in the house to question policy. Where Conservative MPs have to toe the line, Labour MPs have a duty to question and probe to eliminate rubbish concepts.

It appeared to me after watching some Labour-types on Newsnight their main concern is the nature of the party and not the future of the country. The general consensus is that they need an electable leader. Not so. First they need a party capable of being elected and functioning as a government and this means they must be able to do the job, which I very much doubt, and in opposition they need to understand the implications of government policy which they definitely cannot.

The government seems to be promising protection of agricultural subsidies until 2020. With a stated aim to leave Brexit until 2019 by the Prime Minister they don't have much choice as they will probably be EU funded until that period anyway. Reading between the lines what they really appear to be saying is don't rely on subsidies after that date.

Hedge funds are "shorting" luxury property developers. In other words, betting that the value of such properties will drop in the near future. Less well publicised is concern for the future of all commercial property.

I would like to see the government pressurise the banks into protecting those with small to medium sized businesses by changing the criteria for repossession to one where the ability to fund ones business is reliant on the ability to pay the original amounts relating to the original debt for a period of time, say one to two years prior to repossession due to a fall in value.

The whole Labour Party needs knocking down and rebuilding to even be a viable opposition.

Robin Lloyd, Ellesmere

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