Letters

Simon Jenkins hits the bullseye. HS2 would merely have the effect of turning Birmingham into a London suburb. We need a major investment programme in high-speed rail that runs from Liverpool to Hull, and up to Newcastle. This programme must also link up all of the cities and smaller towns in between so that people can access decent-paying jobs without having to up sticks and move away from home. Both for the sake of justice, as well as on economic grounds, such a programme should take precedence over HS2.

There are two ways of building on the success of the national living wage (NLW) in countering low pay.

The idea that, at this late stage, the UK should crash out of the EU without a deal is absurd. Large numbers of firms and jobs in manufacturing would disappear. The prospect of no deal has been kept on the negotiating table for two years, to give our negotiators some leverage, but any last-ditch attempts at seriously pursuing this destructive fantasy must be stopped. I voted last night to take no deal off the table.

The deposit-free mortgages I am proposing would be aimed at those whose net income would increase significantly by moving from renting to buying, and who are not fortunate enough to be able to draw on the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, writes Frank Field MP

By building on the Home-Start model with a programme that protects parents’ mental health, strengthens the bonds with their child, and fosters a first-class home learning environment, the country would give itself a fighting chance of preventing children born into disadvantaged homes becoming poor adults.

While Labour’s commitment of vast new sums towards preschool interventions is welcome, much more thought needs to be given to how they can be used most effectively to equalise children’s life chances. Much of the inequality that now exists between the life chances of children from relatively wealthy families and others from poorer backgrounds is accounted for by what happens at home – mainly in respect of the style of parenting and the home learning environment.

Frank Field on how the government could have filled the policy vacuum instead of waiting for Brexit

My plan was to sell dear, with the whole of a working-class family clubbing together to acquire an asset and, crucially, for councils to use all those monies to rebuild and repair stock. The Wilson and Callaghan governments undertook reviews of this idea but civil servants thought the plan unworkable.

The MP, a lifelong anti-poverty campaigner, appealed to rich philanthropists to step in and assist hard-up individuals ordered to repay loans in full, even though the payday lender has gone bust.