Simon Hattenstone’s article (Kim Leadbeater on running for her sister Jo Cox’s seat: ‘I know this is what she would want me to be doing’, 5 June) rightly points out that Kim Leadbeater, the Labour candidate for the Batley and Spen byelection, has a mind of her own and is determined to work to try to shift power away from Whitehall and Westminster into the hands of local people. The sister of Jo Cox, the MP who was brutally murdered in her constituency in the small town of Birstall, West Yorkshire, by a far-right extremist, Kim has local credentials second to none. She has lived and worked in Batley and Spen all her life. She is tough, a fast talker, and often blunt; she famously said on BBC Newsnight: “We have an expression in Yorkshire – if you haven’t got anything good to say keep your gob shut.” I went to the same school as Kim and Jo in Heckmondwike, and was a contemporary at the school of her parents. Before Jo became an MP she had worked in Brussels at the European parliament and was passionately pro-European. Kim insists that the byelection is not about the popularity of national politicians and refuses to be distracted by any outsiders who suggest otherwise. And I would advise Peter Mandelson to stay well away from Batley and Spen, and Tony Blair to keep his “gob shut”. Michael McGowan Former Labour MEP for Leeds • I live in the constituency of Chesham and Amersham where, on 17 June, there is a byelection. This has long been an ultra-safe Conservative seat, but there appears to be some anxiety among Tories, locally and nationally, about a possible Liberal Democrat win. Boris Johnson has made an appearance here and canvassers have been drafted in from London. Now, Rishi Sunak has written a letter to constituents in which he makes a number of predictable claims and in which, most interestingly, he suggests that: “To recover from the pandemic, Chesham and Amersham needs an MP who can work with me.” Now, I am not a Lib Dem supporter, but I recognise that the Lib Dem candidate is not some beyond-the-pale extremist, so I see no reason why Sarah Green and Sunak could not work together. But perhaps Sunak is not that kind of politician, and perhaps this is not that kind of government. Dr Peter Dawson Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.