Polly Hudson (Some people have a choice about whether or not to vote Labour. I wish I did too, 5 October) seems to be confusing her father’s devotion to his political and ethical principles with devotion to a party. He sounds like a dedicated and hard-working MP who sacrificed a lot for his principles and to serve his country and community.

But it’s only in dictatorships that devotion to “the party” starts to supersede commitment to moral and ethical principles. As citizens of a democratic country, it is imperative that we vote according to our principles and our ideas of what we want this country to be. Doing so must be based on a party’s policies and actions, not its name or history. Granted, this is complicated by our voting system, which creates the sense that we must at times pick “the best of a bad bunch” as the only option of picking a winner.

It feels complicated for many of us, with good reason. But if Polly wants to walk into that voting booth and out of it with the same unambiguous pride in “doing the right thing” that her father instilled in her, the only way to do this is by holding firm to our principles and beliefs. Which party best represents those through its policies and actions remains up to the individual to decide.

If she worries about “betraying” her father by considering voting for a party other than Labour, she should consider if the betrayal to the leftwing principles and ideals her father dedicated his life to is really from her side, or from Labour’s side. That should give her clarity.
Nadia Kevlin
Bristol

Polly Hudson’s father was clearly a dedicated politician, who worked tirelessly for his constituents (and later as a lord) to make the world a better place, while maintaining levels of humility in his work. Her love for, and dedication to him, is touching. If he had continued as an MP to this day I wonder whether he’d still be a member of the Labour party, while the two-child cap is still in place, and if he’d have held his tongue on the atrocities taking place in Gaza. Other fair-minded MPs have found themselves ejected from the party for refusing to ignore their conscience on these and other issues.

Unfortunately, Hudson’s unflinching commitment to Labour is, to this outsider, ultimately a case of the awful political tribalism that has held this country back for too long. Picasso is thought to have said that “tradition is having a baby, not wearing your father’s hat”. She could learn from him in this instance. The Labour party is not now the party that it was when her father represented it. Politicians and parties change, and her vote can too.
Tom Houston
London

Like Polly Hudson’s old man, my mum was a Labour politician. Unlike Polly’s old man, Mum did not have the privilege of going to grammar school, and did not become a well-connected journalist, let alone a well-paid MP and a member of the House of Lords. Instead, she transported sanitary bins back to PHS’s cleaning yard and, in later life, drove around transporting quiches to restaurants from the type of white van that Emily Thornberry so unforgettably poked fun at years ago.

Mum’s political career amounted to a few years as a councillor in south-east London, tirelessly supporting local people with local issues. She fell out with the local Labour party, became an independent, and was so well admired that she easily got re-elected. People over party, that was Mum. No sleaze scandals, no free clothes, no second house allowance – just a hard-working politician who helped people in need and was usually absent from my childhood when doing that.

In the years before Alzheimer’s killed her, Mum became fearful and devastated by the untrammelled violence of this changing society. She was disillusioned with a Labour party that seemed to be less representative of her and more representative of the class of well-connected journalists and communications consultants.

No one in my family now votes Labour. I doubt they ever will again. Polly says she’s not able to change her vote. She can, and should. If you’re autonomous you vote based on what you believe, not what you’re told.
Ashley Hyne
Flint