THERE was barely a mention about the axing of working tax credits in George Osborne’s Tory conference speech (Echo, Oct 7).

His silence finally puts pay to the Tories’ claims to represent hard-working families.

But just like the poll tax of the early ‘90s, the tax credit crisis will not go away.

Nor will the rhetoric that an increase in the Living Wage to £9 an hour will compensate for any losses in tax credits.

It is arithmetically impossible. The £9 hourly rate does not come into force until 2020, yet tax credit cuts start next April.

As for the under-25s the Tories seemed to have abandoned them altogether; they are not even entitled to the Living Wage.

It all adds up to a sham of a party which blathers on about how much self-respect low-paid workers can gain by being less reliant on the state yet, as MPs, are quite content to become more reliant on the state themselves courtesy of a generous pay rise.

Stephen Dixon, Redcar.