Britain has had a Conservative Government for 12 years and for now it is engaged in a protracted game of musical chairs, leaving the disgraced ex-prime minister supposedly in charge while his Secretaries of State are snubbing Parliamentary committees as if they aren’t accountable to anybody.

The two contenders for his job are saying they will ‘fix the economy’ – which must leave us all wondering what they have been doing since 2010.

Well, here are a few things that neither Sunak nor Truss is talking about:

  • Since 2010 the government funding given to local authorities has been reduced by 60 per cent and Shropshire Council has announced that there will be yet more reductions to social care spending in the coming year. This affects all of us because if the home support isn't there people don't leave hospital, blocking ward beds so Accident and Emergency departments are full. That's why ambulances are wasting hours waiting to discharge patients, so emergency response times are desperately slow. Meanwhile, the remaining social care services have been outsourced to private companies, so our council tax is paying shareholders and profits, not keeping vulnerable people safe.
  • Since 2010 the policy of 'austerity' meant that workers have had their pay restricted to the point that many of our essential workers can't manage any more and are prepared to strike rather than accept the tiny pay rises being offered. The government is trying to insist that these pay rises will 'fuel inflation' but it isn't addressing the enormous pay awards given to the CEOs of railway companies, academy chains and privatised utilities – don't those add to inflation? Remember, the people threatening strikes are the 'heroes' we were clapping for two years ago. Claps don't pay bills, though, and low pay with increased responsibility equals a flood of essential staff leaving schools, hospitals and care work for easier, better-paid tasks. In 2010, trainee nurses were paid to learn; now they have to go into student debt for the privilege of a vital but low-paid job.
  • And talking of privatised services, we have the most expensive public transport in Europe, the most dysfunctional energy supply, and water companies which routinely pump sewage into our rivers. In the 1980s the sale of our utilities was described as 'selling off the family silver'; since 2010 it feels more as if the government is selling the lead off the roof.

Would somebody like to explain how a Labour government could possibly be worse?

Sarah Thursfield

via email.