Lodge protest Sir: Mrs Cross writes on the defensive (Letters,
15 August). This fits in well with the Tories' unjustified and widespread con- demnation of our last government (in which she joins) and their failure during the general election campaign to state positive and workable alternatives to its policies. What they said they would do they are already finding impossible, and they will only keep any liberal and humane opinion on their side insofar as they continue to implement what, broadly speaking. Labour stood and stands for. Backtracking and equi- vocation are so far the hallmarks of this Government.
Where Mr Heath chooses to implement the provisions of the Tory manifesto he will meet growing hostility. A few examples will illustrate this. Take the South African arms question. Here Sir Alec Douglas-Home seems completely indeterminate, and so muddled, that with the real Prime Minister sitting beside him, he three times, when the matter was debated in Parliament, referred to Mr Wilson as still holding this office! If the Government goes ahead with a deal, the results will be calamitous both at home and abroad and will meet with determined resist- ance.
In Ulster Mr Heath will find it far more difficult to control his political allies there than would have been the case under Labour. Down here in Eire there is wide disappoint- ment that the Tories won on 18 June and serious doubts about the fair implementation of the Government's pledge that changes will only be made in Northern Ireland with the consent of the people there. How, it is asked, can anti-Unionist opinion be recorded or even expressed freely?
Mr Maudling will upset the civil service (which is easily the best in the world) and will flout expert opinion if he tries to carry out Heath's pledge to treat aliens and immi- grants alike under the law. Such a policy will not only exacerbate present difficulties but could well lead to an increase in coloured immigration as well as an increase in civil servants!
The Premier's pre-election promise of 'immediate' action over prices and a specific mention of postal charges in this context already looks silly. Further, no economic problems are ever solved through mouthing platitudes about industrial relations, an exer- cise in which Messrs Carr and Barber have already overindulged themselves. A detect- able bias against organised workers, especi- ally in the increasingly well-run puhiicly- owned industries, and the plugging of a nebulous and undefined policy of 'compe- tition' as a means of keeping prices down, seem merely to be a recipe for inciting strife and strikes. And so, I repeat, prospects are gloomy for all of us. In any case even if tax cuts are possible in the future and before the Government falls, the average British family—which does not live in Surrey— would only benefit by a few shillings a week and not at all if prices, rents, fares, postal charges and other inescapable expenditure remain uncontrolled. Meanwhile, hitherto silent Mr Powell is waiting in the wings to the chagrin of his supporters.
I will gladly escort Mrs Cross round the Brighton shops to prove my case, afterwards giving her tea which is just one more of the most widely-used items now to go up in price under a Government elected to stop it. T. C. Skeffington-Lodge The Gresham Hotel, O'Connell Street, Dublin
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