'We need true independence and a just and sustainable future' - Your Letters: April 16

​It is time to get out of the toxic special relationship the UK has with the USA. We need true independence and a just and sustainable future, which we cannot get when we are tied to the USA. We need fair trade not free trade, and we need to protect and build up our own industries, protect our farmers and develop self-defence not offensive NATO warmongering.

To survive in this fast moving world we need to change the structural inequalities and bad practices that have been supported instead of the public services that ordinary people need in order to live decently. 

Neither the Conservatives, Reform or Labour parties are offering anything different when it comes to the changes we all need. We have to have policies and actions that will tax the ultra rich, stop supporting the mega trans-national corporations that are destroying our planet and have a money system controlled by the government for the people not the banks. There are solutions to all our problems but we will never get them in our present system. Let’s demand the changes we need to survive.

Angie Zelter, West Midlands

OAPs CASHING IN ON THE FREEBIES

Yet more embarrassing freebies for us grasping senior citizens. In addition to those bus passes, prescriptions and massive pension increases, we now know that we are eligible for free passports. Why should this be I ask? Why does working for 40/50 years mean that you should now live the life of Riley? All you need is to prove that you were born before 2 September 1929 and you'll qualify. Even as we speak, I guess thousands of OAPs will be hammering on the doors of the passport office, demanding a freebee for perhaps in readiness their safari in Kenya.

Disgraceful!

Alan M Etheridge, Sedgley

REFORM IS JUST A ONE TRICK PONY

Martin Bristow says Nigel Farage is not to blame for splitting the right wing vote that gave us a Labour government with a massive majority, but there is no other logical explanation.

I have studied Reform UK and I cannot find any policies other than no net migration, which if enacted would cause chaos for the NHS, social care, and other employment sectors. If you really want to know what a Reform government would look like I suggest you take a look at their main cheerleader, ie GB News. It is almost impossible to comprehend how broadcasting standards in the UK can be allowed to sink to such a low level. 

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