Letters: I'm not a Labour voter – but Keir Starmer is worse than I expected

Big Issue readers have their say on Labour’s policies under Keir Starmer, condemn the spread of far-right riots and violence across the country, and share their experiences of disabled access.

Incensed by Starmer

I am 65 and love getting your magazine each week. I write as a non-Labour voter, and didn’t have any hopes for Starmer after he said he would not be curbing bankers’ bonuses and wasn’t prepared to raise taxes. But he is worse than I expected. On a selfish, personal level I was hoping to get my pensioners heating allowance for the first time later this year, but Rachel Reeves has scrapped that. 

I knew that Starmer wasn’t going to be proactive in reducing poverty so I am not surprised that he isn’t going to get rid of the two-child benefit cap, but I am really incensed by him withdrawing the whip for seven MPs who dared to show they wanted to remove the cap. That just doesn’t impact on them but shows a total disregard for the people that voted for them in their constituency.

Starmer’s reason for not supporting this now, ‘because the money isn’t there’, is typical – and I have to say I am with Rob Delaney when he said, “The amount of money in this country is outrageous…There is money. Take it. Mint it. Make it Happen.”

Tax the outrageously big bonuses and wealthy people. And if there is a ‘black hole’ get it back from that lot – NOT US! 

Dan Alliband, Newcastle upon Tyne

Readers respond to the recent riots

Peaceful disruption of motorways brings three- to five-year prison sentences. What sentence will be given to those perpetrating racist violence in Southport?  

Steve Cieslik, Chepstow

The real motive for these riots is racism. Using the murder of three young girls as a scapegoat to terrorise people because of their skin colour, religion or asylum status is horrifying and heartbreaking. These are not protests these are riots. This is not activism, this is terrorism. This is not patriotism, this is racism. It’s shameful to see the media twist a false narrative of what’s happening in the UK right now. Thank you @bigissueuk for sharing resources for what we can do as a community to help those in this time of need.

@amyadaams, Instagram

We need to support refugees and asylum seekers against this far-right hate and fascism! The British society we know is inclusive, is loving, is embracing, is caring. Wherever I go I talk about the amazing welcoming British people I know. Don’t let these thugs ruin British society and its image.

@nourmfj998, Instagram

If the reason for the ‘protests’ is illegal migration #StopTheBoats these ‘protests’ are pathetic. Gathering in random, irrelevant places with no purpose apart from disorder is pointless. 🤬

@RobBurberry, X

• Keir Starmer on being as ‘bold as Attlee’ and why there’ll be no return to austerity under his watch
• What is the two-child benefit limit and how does it impact families?

Access denied

Foot surgery last year saw me dependent on a wheelchair for a few weeks and gave me a new perspective on the difficulties faced by permanent users such as Anna Landre, who wrote for the Big Issue. Finding some places difficult and others impossible to access was bad enough, but my worst moment came at a library event, which I had reached via a lift to the top floor. The organiser cheerfully announced that, while no fire alarm was scheduled to go off, on no account should anyone try to use the lift if it did. Would I have been carried bodily down the stairs in the event of a fire? I do hope so, but in a panic situation, who knows?

Maggie Cobbett, Ripon

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Starmer’s sums?

I read with interest your article on housing: ‘How Labour’s target for 1.5 million homes will depend on the private sector’. Although Labour’s house-building plans are to be applauded, the logistics of their aim is daunting, effectively bringing on to the market over 1,000 new dwellings every working day for the next five years.

Although there are already houses in the process of being built, the acceleration of building plans does mean that this average is an under-estimate of the rate at which new dwellings need to be brought to market in the later part of the five-year term, as you don’t build a house in a day.

Barratt Developments’ quote of 22,000 homes a year is about 88 per working day, is very far off what is needed. Are the skills and labour force in place to manage this, and are contemporary modular/ prefabricated building techniques being explored to enable the targets to be met?

I believe the last time such a rapid building programme was achieved was immediately postwar when many of the houses were prefabs and we had extra labour from German and Italian prisoners of war! 

Who is going to challenge the builders on their rate of construction and the reality of the targets being into place by Starmer’s Labour government?

David Sproxton, Bristol

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about the performance of Keir Starmer so far, or any of the topics raised? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.