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Public deserves better

While my local Tory MP Robert Buckland may hold exalted office, he really should undergo a refresher course in basic maths.

Over the past three years we have seen a party (Conservative), with a majority, failing to vote for Mrs May’s Brexit deal, hence the problems today.

For this to happen, some of the Tories must have voted against their party, not once, but three times. So for the MP to blame one opposition party (surely, they are meant to do just that – oppose) means he has got his simple arithmetic wrong. Other letter writers also have fallen into this trap. What we are witnessing is ‘blue on blue’ and nothing to do with the opposition.

Similarly, in the recent votes for an election (turkeys and Christmas springs to mind), he castigates one of the opposition parties for opposing it.

He really should look over his shoulder as many of his stance look set to lose their seats if such an event were to occur to a new-comer to the political scene.

I hate to remind him that if all of his opponents (less than half of the MPs) voted against this proposal, it would still need several of his side to side with the opposition to vote it down as two-thirds of the MPs would have to be in favour. Bet Mrs. May had wished this had happened to her.

We have in our local council a ‘scrutiny’ committee. It looks at proposals, discuss, allows the public to have a say and then vote on it.

Naively, I thought that that was the role of Parliament on national affairs. However, it appears that the prime minister sees things differently as he has reduced drastically, the time for scrutiny.

As my MP said: ‘the public expect better.’

Bob Pixton, Abney Moor, Liden

Get back to school

I SEE there is news of another ‘strike’ by schoolchildren about the governments lack of action over climate change and yet we are among the best.

Yes, we can do more, but then again we realise that. Plus the fact that cities etc are looking to reduce pollution. At present they have to rely on polluting transport to deliver goods, and for people to get to work. The ‘electric revolution’ will take some time to manifest itself to obtain a real positive and yet they will pollute by adding tyre dust and brake pad dust to the environment.

So I see the striking children going back home and then having their parents driving them to school every day and, in doing so, polluting that atmosphere around the school.

That’s fine because it is ‘convenient’.

I see in the news, very small children saying we need to ‘save the planet’, but one should realise by the way they utter their statement, that it has been conveyed by the parents to the child that: “You are our children who will suffer if change does not happen, we will get you to draw some posters to help a protest.”

Basically, what do they know? I know that we have some young children who are very aware of the situation but. to me, lots of them look forward to time off of school and paddle around in the water features without so much of any time spent amongst the ‘protesters’.

They should know by education that there is more to do but maybe they should go to China and experience the pollution made by the companies making batteries for our electric cars.

It’s time to get real and get back to school.

Chris Gleed, Proud Close, Purton