NOT for the first time the hapless Diane Abbott’s competence as a senior political figure has been called into question (Echo, May 3).

In a shambolic radio interview, she underestimated wildly on two occasions the cost of recruiting 10,000 police officers.

I applaud the opposition for focusing on policy issues in the election but this does nothing to alter the widely held perception around Labour’s economic incompetence.

We have already had a raft of promises to increase spending on the NHS, education, welfare and now the police which are to be funded in the main apparently through changes in corporation tax and increases in income tax for the wealthy. The manifesto will tell us more in due course.

Will these tax changes balance the books in relation to big spending increases? I doubt it and in the unlikely event that Labour wins in June, I suspect increased borrowing and economic stability would once again be the order of the day.

John Crick, Bishop Auckland