Soul traders

Any supposed ‘’gain’’ or return of Labour’s lost ‘’soul’’ by electing Jeremy Corbyn as leader is a myth. In fact, it would mean total loss of any credibility or the opportunity of ever returning to government. Their political opponents are well aware of this. In fact, the chances are his election will signal the end of the party. In the long run that may well be a good thing, as an uncoupling of the link with the dinosaurs of the far left and fantasy economics, as well as the emergence of a dynamically led new centre-left party, would in time bring the party back to being credible and electable.

Labour should beware of idealistic newspaper columnists, or union barons, or biased and noisy audiences at public or TV debates, or those who suggest following the SNP example and propose separation and economic ‘’solutions’’ where oil is half the real price and bills do not need to be paid. All of these groups represent merely a small fraction of the tens of millions of the UK electorate. They do not elect British governments. The only people happy with Labour’s present predicament and welcoming and encouraging the Corbyn factor are the Tories at UK level and the SNP in Scotland.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh