Keir Starmer needs to think very carefully before he decides to support any Brexit deal the prime minister puts before parliament (Starmer prepares to reopen old Labour wounds over Brexit deal vote, 28 November). He is in danger of making the same mistake as Jeremy Corbyn – publicly supporting something he does not believe in. Corbyn was afraid to alienate the majority “anti-Brexit” members of his party and so decided to sit on the fence while paying lip service to the remain cause. In doing so, he let his own side down (Brexit supporters mainly), thereby alienating many Labour supporters. Corbyn should have done the honourable thing in 2016 – admit he supported Brexit and resigned as leader. We would be in a much better position now if he had. Starmer now has a responsibility to ensure that there is an effective opposition in parliament to highlight the reasons for the inevitable economic difficulties we are about to endure because of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. There is no doubt that he can, and must, accept that Brexit is a fact and it will happen. It is legitimate to offer support for Brexit in parliament, but only if it is being implemented through a good, sensible deal. But Labour will be unable to maintain any kind of opposition if Starmer and a whipped PLP support Johnson’s bad deal. If he does support it he will, like Corbyn, immediately alienate large parts of the party and the electorate, and once again we will find ourselves scratching around waiting for a Labour leader who has the courage of their convictions and the confidence to stand up for what is right. Shaun V Soper Midhurst, West Sussex • There is nothing left to be negotiated, other than the degree of public humiliation for past and present ministers, and those on the backbenches who egged them on to the point that they so stunningly misjudged the EU’s resolve to settle matters to the benefit of its members. Polly Toynbee is right to caution Labour against endorsing the tawdry deal that will emerge, in the vain hope of some debatable future electoral advantage (Boris Johnson will get a deal: but it will be a betrayal of the Brexiters, 30 November). Abstaining on this will be as effective and powerful as the parallel decision to avoid backing the tier system, unless and until it delivers the support needed by so many people in all areas of the country and the economy. Maybe politics has reached a new tipping point when abstention on the two most pressing topics of the day is the best way of exposing the shambles that is Boris Johnson’s government. Les Bright Exeter • Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s words in May 2019 – “We’re trying to bail you guys out on Brexit” – are in danger of haunting the Labour party for ever. Brexit is a Tory (old Etonian) project enabled by Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings. Far from being “oven ready”, a Tory Brexit is a stinking, maggot-ridden carcass. The next Labour government will have to deal with the fallout, especially for the most vulnerable. Labour must hold the Conservatives to account at every opportunity: for the job losses, queues and shortages (As Americans fix their 2016 error, we in the UK are doubling down on ours: Brexit, 27 November) inflicted by their unnecessary, ideologically driven and damaging Brexit. Labour must not create a Tory-Labour Brexit by voting for a shoddy last-minute deal. They must not bail the Tories out. Magi Young Exeter