Owen Jones is right. Millions of us in the UK and, moreover, in the Labour party, support the platform that leftwing candidates represent (If Labour’s leadership is hobbling internal candidates, is it fit to run a democracy?, 29 November). Most of us who voted for Keir Starmer in the leadership contest actually thought he did too; after all, his 10 pledges included “common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water”, and the defence of free movement.
What makes the “manipulation of selection procedures” so ridiculous is not simply that it is anti-democratic, but that it is electorally unnecessary and misguided. Support for leftwing policies such as nationalisation and redistribution is “at record levels”, as a recent Guardian editorial said (22 November).
