Dear Editor,
I received a leaflet through my door and on the front of the leaflet was a gravestone. Last year I lost my daughter and have had the cruel misfortune of having to purchase and agree a gravestone for her. The order of her dying before me as her parent is something I never imagined.
I assumed the leaflet was a tacky advert for undertakers, however upon further inspection I see that it's a Plymouth Labour leaflet on their campaign to block Plymouth from choosing their own leader.
Firstly, following my bereavement I am not in the slightest interested in the upcoming referendum, but what I do care about is the clueless and insensitive propaganda that Labour is distributing in Plymouth. Did they not stop to think that this leaflet would re-traumatise Plymothians facing bereavement? Did they not think of the implications?
As someone who has recently had to endure the heartbreak of losing a child and the painful process of arranging her funeral and memorial, seeing a gravestone used as a cheap political prop was deeply distressing. The image immediately brought back the raw grief and trauma of those terrible months.
This is not just poor judgment - it's callous disregard for the many families in Plymouth who have experienced loss. How many other bereaved parents, spouses, children, and friends will have this leaflet pushed through their doors, forcing them to relive their most painful moments because Labour thought a gravestone made for good political imagery?
There are countless ways to communicate a political message without exploiting symbols of death and grief. The fact that no one in Plymouth Labour's campaign team flagged this as inappropriate speaks volumes about their disconnect from the real experiences of ordinary residents.
Politics should be about representing people with compassion and understanding, not traumatising them with thoughtless imagery. Labour owes the bereaved families of Plymouth an apology for this insensitive campaign material.
Even more concerning is that I have since learnt that their leaflet is full of misrepresentation too. So not only have Labour chosen to use deeply insensitive imagery that causes distress to grieving families, but they've also filled their campaign material with misleading information. This combination of callousness and dishonesty is exactly what's wrong with modern politics.
At a time when trust in politicians is already at rock bottom, this kind of tone-deaf campaigning only makes things worse. Plymouth deserves better from its elected representatives.
Yours sincerely,
