Local elections and the calibre of candidates

Sir, The dismal turnout in elections for police and crime commissioners, mentioned in your leader, can perhaps be explained by the lack of any information for voters. In Waverley we have received no communication from any candidate. To find out who was standing I had to dig into the council’s website, where I found a list of candidates. However, there was no statement by any of them so I have no idea who they are or what policies they put forward. The only information given was their party affiliation — but surely this election is about individuals, not political parties?

I have voted in every election — local and national — since I came of age in 1980. I will not participate this time as I simply have no idea who I am voting for. How can anything but a wretched turnout be expected today when the electorate is faced with such a lack of information?
Martin Williamson
Shamley Green, Surrey

Sir, Your leading article belittles the value of former parliamentarians holding office as elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs) and, by implication, mayors. However, you undermine your argument by applauding the work of Sir Peter Soulsby, the first elected mayor of Leicester — who was previously the MP for Leicester South. There is also the more debatable case of Boris Johnson, who resigned as the MP for Henley on his election as mayor of London.

Membership of parliament provides invaluable local knowledge and experience of public life and national police policy, including constant contact with chief constables, which can all be further utilised if former MPs become PCCs.
Edmund Marshall
Labour MP for Goole 1971-83, Harpenden, Herts

Sir, I was delighted by Alice Thomson’s article pointing out the paucity of talent on offer for the London mayoral election (“Why I won’t be voting in this feeble election”, Opinion, Apr 27). The one box missing from the ballot paper is “none of the above”. If we had it, the large number of people who are disenchanted with our politicians could show that we want to vote but cannot put our “X” in a useful place.
Jim Wheeler
Surbiton, Surrey

POWER OF THE LORDS

Sir, May I raise an important matter affecting the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords before the forthcoming Queen’s Speech? The government set up the Strathclyde Review after the House of Lords held up the Draft Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 last autumn. The issue raised was that of Commons financial privilege, whereby the Lords has, since the late-17th century, been restricted in its ability to amend bills of a financial nature. The government took the view that the Lords had infringed that privilege by holding up the regulations.

Whether the government was wise to introduce such a measure in the form of a statutory instrument (of its nature unamendable), and what the episode implies about the use of subordinate legislation to introduce significant matters more suited to primary legislation, have been considered by no less than three select committees of the House of Lords recently. This is not the place to enter into the intricacies of their argument, but it is the place for me to endorse those committees’ view that the whole matter should be investigated by a joint committee of both Houses before any legislation is proceeded with.
Sir Malcolm Jack
Clerk of the House of Commons 2006-11, London N19

EUROPEAN DEFENCE

Sir, Richard Kemp is wrong to suggest that remaining in the EU will result in our armed forces “signing up to a European army” (letter, May 4) The UK has a veto on all defence matters and Britain will never be part of any EU army. National security is a matter for national government competence. Nato is, and will remain, the cornerstone of our defence policy; the secretary-general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, said recently that “a strong UK in Europe is good for our security, it is good for Nato”. This is also the view of the US government.

Being in Europe complements our Nato membership and magnifies the UK’s influence and power in the world. It also strengthens our security through working with our allies to share intelligence and tackle cross-border challenges. Cutting ourselves off from our allies and friends, as the Leave campaigners would like us to do, would leave the defence of Britain weaker, not stronger.
Sir Nicholas Soames MP
House of Commons

Sir, Pascal Lamy (Thunderer, May 3) paints an accurate picture of the difficulties that would be faced in negotiating a trade deal with the EU after Brexit. I can well imagine member states vetoing the idea. What then? The Leave campaign appears convinced that negotiating a deal to be ratified by 27 parliaments can be done in a trice, rather than the five to fifteen years that M Lamy estimates. Are they living in cloud-cuckoo-land?

To draw a homely analogy, they are like members of a private club who want to drink in the cheap bar but don’t want to pay their subscriptions.
Paul Clapham
Margate, Kent

Sir, M Lamy writes: “Imagine how eager French farmers will be not to have your beef or lamb on our supermarket shelves.” We have owned a property in France for 18 years and have never seen British produce in the butcher’s section of any supermarket.
Martyn Hole
Battle, E Sussex

FRIENDS LIKE THESE

Sir, My children attend schools with two alarms: one to signify fire and another to warn of an armed attack, as in Toulouse (2012). I pray at a synagogue whose windows are not of stained-glass but reinforced plastic so as to withstand a shooting, as in Copenhagen (2015). I buy from kosher stores where the security guard checks your bag on the way in for bombs, not on the way out for shoplifted groceries, after the murders in Paris (2015).

Against whom are these defences directed? Those such as Hamas and Hezbollah, who see all Jews, anywhere and everywhere, as enemies to be killed — and whom the leader of the opposition called his “friends”. Pressed at Prime Minister’s Questions unambiguously to withdraw this statement, Jeremy Corbyn said only that he “does not approve” of these groups.

To say that I do not approve of Mr Corbyn would be an understatement.
David Wolfson, QC
One Essex Court, London EC4

MONOCLED ‘MYTH’

Sir, May I correct the canard that it was a military policeman who triggered the now mythologised “mutiny” at the “Bullring” at Étaples in 1917 (News, Apr 30). It is sad that an historian and journalist as respected as Ben Macintyre reinforces the falsehood, albeit that he is in good company, given that the late Professor Richard Holmes did the same.

The soldier, who fired the fatal shot negligently, was one Private Harry Reeve, who would be convicted at court martial for the manslaughter of the Scottish soldier and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment with hard labour. Reeve was not, and never was, a member of the Army’s professional military police. He merely undertook general disciplinary duties at the infamous base camp wearing the cap badge of another regiment or corps, but certainly not that of mine own.
Colonel (ret’d) J T Green
Regimental secretary, Royal Military Police

RED-LETTER DAY

Sir, Your report “1st-class letters arriving late despite rising costs” (May 3) omits to mention a further reason. Here in the north west, the last collection time from many pillar boxes on Mondays to Fridays is 9am, perfectly aligned to what for many is the start of the working day. At least on Saturdays we can take comfort from the fact that the last collection time is 7am, perfect for night owls and dog-walkers but less suited to those seeking a lie-in at the weekend.
His Honour Judge David Hodge, QC
Rainhill, Merseyside

DINOSAUR DONS

Sir, In her review of L W B Brockliss’s The University of Oxford: A History, Paula Byrne notes the dons’ perennial “reluctance to embrace change” (Saturday Review, Apr 30).

Goldwin Smith, who was a student at Oxford 1841-45 and a professor 1858-66, found it refreshingly forward-looking in comparison to his time at Eton. In his 1910 Reminiscences, he recalls his schooldays in the late 1830s: “The Provost, Dr Goodall, was outwardly and inwardly antique . . . Against change of any kind he set his face . . . It was said, and was hardly incredible, that when his letters were brought by rail, he would not open them till they ought to have come by stage.”
Michael Hammerson
London N6

TESTING TIMES

Sir, One can achieve clarity of expression without resorting to grammar (letters, May 2 & 4). I recall a drill sergeant addressing a barrack room packed with highly educated recruits: “Right then. Let’s be having you. Get fell in outside.” We all understood him perfectly, and no one thought it necessary to draw his attention to his grammatical errors.
Peter Pooley
Alresford, Hants

MONSTER MUSHROOM

Sir, The “super-sized” porcino mentioned by Antonio Carluccio and found near Chernobyl (letter, May 4) attained its large size not due to radiation pollution but because it had not been disturbed by humans.

Nature does rather well when humans are excluded.
Rob Yorke
Abergavenny, Monmouthshire

BLOWING A FUSE

Sir What are all these annoying leaf blowers finding to do in Hampstead (“Get a broom: actor’s war on leaf blowers”, May 4)? In Devon the first leaves are just appearing on the trees.
Margaret Fairburn
Clyst St Mary, Devon

Sir, Paul Simons (Weather Eye, May 4) wonders why we bother having a May Day holiday, given its track record of patchy weather. Surely a bank holiday in the autumn would be preferable? The end of October already has a name and a religious element: All Saints’ Day.
Brian Smith
East Molesey, Surrey

NE’ER CAST A CLOUT

Sir, If May Day were moved to later in the year in the hope of better weather, what would we have to talk about on our return to work?
Sonya Welsh
Newtownabbey, Co Antrim