Wisbech reader: 'Time for a new leader'

Brexit ‘fatigue’, just like the ‘Falklands factor’ in the 1983 general election, has given the Tories a substantial working majority in the 2019 general election.

Now Prime Minister Boris Johnson must deliver on ‘getting Brexit done’.

He must also keep his pledge that the NHS is not up for sale to giant American health insurance corporations.

There is also the approaching world recession which most economists expect in the second half of 2020.

Then there is Scotland. The victorious Scottish National Party, like the nationalists in Catalonia in Spain, are likely to organise a new independence referendum.

Mr Johnson will also have to deal with the five-week wait for Universal Credit; the 1.2 million people visiting foodbanks each year; and the 85,000 households in temporary housing (including 125,000 children); not to mention the thousands sleeping rough.

Jeremy Corbyn was also a factor in Labour’s defeat.

Mr Corbyn’s job in moving Labour to the left is done. A new leader, preferably a woman, is needed.

My money is on Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour MP for Salford and Eccles.

A new leader must purge the Parliamentary Labour Party of all remaining Blairite MPs.

In North East Cambridgeshire Tory MP and Brexit Secretary, Stephen Barclay, was again re-elected with a large majority.

The only way for Labour to defeat career politicians such as Mr Barclay is for all Labour candidates to stand on the slogan: ‘for a workers’ MP on a worker’s wage’.

This will mean the Labour candidate pledging, if elected, to live on the average wage of a Fenland worker (currently around £500 a week) with the surplus being donated to labour movement campaigns.

The results of the 2019 general election are only a snapshot in time.

A lot can happen in the next five years. We must prepare for sharp turns and sudden changes.

John Smithee,

Wisbech.