Readers' letters - July 14

I am delighted that Theresa May is the new Leader of the Conservative Party and our Prime Minister.

Theresa secured the backing of an overwhelming majority of Conservative MPs and Angela Leadsom made the right decision to withdraw from the leadership contest.

I am sure she will continue to serve her country in Government.

Theresa has a tremendous record as our Home Secretary.

She commands respect in EU capitals and her proven integrity, leadership and determination will be invaluable in the difficult negotiations to secure the very best deal for both Britain and our European partners.

Theresa will unite the country with her clear vision and I have pledged her my full support in the difficult months ahead.

I am still an MEP, undertaking the normal duties I carry out on behalf of the North West and United Kingdom, but now with the additional responsibilities of trying to navigate the BREXIT process.

I suspect that in coming months I shall be spending more time in Brussels than I ever have done in the past.

MEPs who have worked constructively on behalf of the United Kingdom in the European Parliament are people with whom both London and Brussels are constructively engaged.

Those MEPs understand how these institutions work, they know what is involved and they have the credibility and trust.

Whatever deal is finalised has to be approved by the European Parliament, and British MEPs are in the most effective position to ensure that MEPs from our fellow European countries understand our perspective and are willing to take through the final settlement.

Lancashire MEP

Sajjad Karim

Theresa’s a safe pair of hands

I was absolutely horrified and disgusted to hear, on Saturday’s early morning news bulletin, the comments supposedly made by Andrea Leadsom that, as a mother, she was best suited to being a better choice of Prime Minister than Theresa May who has no children.

Just because Theresa May has no children by no means proves she is in some way less adequate to hold the post of Prime Minister.

I believe Theresa May will be a safe pair of hands to guide our country through the times ahead of Brexit from the EU.

I personally believe that the EU Referendum should be declared null and void.

Pity Nigel Farage didn’t exit UKIP. I see he hasn’t stepped down from his MEP post.

And then there is the case of Jeremy Corbyn, refusing to stand down for the Labour Party.

He is only refusing to stand down because he is backed by the Unite’s Len McCluskey.

We don’t need another Arthur Scargill – he closed all the coal mines down, not Maggie Thatcher.

Arthur Scargill kept taking the miners out on strike.

M Fazakerley, Preston

Playground of British politics

Although I say good luck to Theresa May in her new role as PM, with all the scandal and the pressure that Andrea Leadsom has been under, I suspect she may have been a victim of the Tory backstabbers – just like Boris Johnson was in his quest to be the new PM!

Is it me but has UK politics now got ugly and full of school playground antics?

I do wish Theresa May all the best as the new Prime Minister.

I only hope she serves and does better than the one that’s just quit.

Darryl Ashton, Blackpool

Be sensible and ban fracking

When the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) reported last week that shale gas production on a significant scale would breach the nation’s targets for emissions cuts unless three tests are passed, Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister, effectively consigned the Government’s own adviser’s report to its policy waste bin.

Labour condemned this, but without saying what it would do to meet the UK’s climate targets. In fact, Professor Jim Skea, one of the authors of the CCC report, cast doubt that even these recommendations would be effective.

Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, put it well: “The idea that fracking can be squared with the UK’s climate targets is based on a tower of assumptions and conditions on which there is zero certainty of delivery.” Climate change is a serious matter with rising temperatures predicted to cause global famine and our coasts to become submerged if left unchecked.

Yet our main political parties continue to make policies that ignore sound scientific advice in favour of short-term gain.

The day we have a Government that joins with the Green Party to promise a ban on fracking and other related ‘extreme’ oil and gas extraction will be a day we can say the UK has come to its senses.

Philip Mitchell,

North Lancashire Green Party

Was all this all part of Plan B?

If I had voted for Brexit, which I did not, I would be highly suspicious of what has now turned out to be a coronation for the next Prime Minister.

Having successfully stitched up the most fervent Brexiteers, the Remainers have installed one of their own, albeit one supposedly a reluctant member. Could this be a hurriedly cobbled together plan B by David Cameron?

Denis Lee, Ashton

Jim Davidson and the comic

Nice article in my Sunday paper about Tony Blair, at the time of the Iraq war, telling Jim Davidson that the attack would be a huge benefit to the Iraqi people.

Right. You remember those two of course, one was a second rate comic, and the other was Jim Davidson.

Allan Fazackerley via email