There is a certain irony in an MP whose party’s coalition with the Conservatives opened the way for the horrendous mess we now face talking about caving in to the Conservative agenda (Labour’s incoherent position on article 50, Letters, 30 January). However, Labour’s position is not as Alistair Carmichael depicts it. As democratically mandated (whatever one thinks of the validity of a flawed referendum), Labour must allow the bill to progress to its final vote. In the meantime Labour’s amendments will reveal the extent of the devastation to the NHS, to all public services, to environmental protection, to agriculture and food quality and to workers’ rights if the government has its way. The government will then have to accept or reject these alternatives to its “hard Brexit”. Accept, and Labour has won at least a “soft Brexit”. Reject, and the public see Brexit for what it really is, the final throes of the neoliberal project. At this point a total rejection of Brexit by the public is possible, demanding a rerun or an election.

John Airs

Liverpool

Labour’s incoherent position on article 50 | Letters Read more

• Perhaps Alistair Carmichael MP should put his own house in order before delivering lectures to Labour. When article 50 was debated in parliament last month only five of the nine Lib Dem MPs cast a vote, with the remaining four abstaining. Is this what Mr Carmichael means by providing “real opposition”?

Liz McInnes MP

Labour, Heywood and Middleton

• How does it help Labour for members, many of them supposedly Corbyn supporters, to make his position impossible (Corbyn: back article 50 or quit shadow cabinet, 30 January)? Do they want to hand Copeland to the Tories and Stoke to Ukip? How would it help Labour to give Paul Nuttall a platform in parliament?

W Stephen Gilbert

Author, Jeremy Corbyn – Accidental Hero

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