BREAST-FEEDING, the shortage of plumbers and the difficulty twilight shift workers in Aycliffe have in getting transport home were among a wide range of topics discussed yesterday by the Prime Minister as part of his Big Conversation.

About 50 of his constituents gathered at lunchtime in a Catholic church hall in Ferryhill to give Tony Blair some guidance on what ideas he should include in Labour's manifesto for the next General Election.

The guests came from the local SureStart scheme and the Ladder Project, a residents' association on the Lakes Estate, in Ferryhill, which organises educational and play facilities.

Mr Blair went from table to table in the church hall listening to their problems and ideas.

He was accompanied by former Health Secretary and Darlington MP Alan Milburn in a very public show of support - the Conservatives are calling for an inquiry into whether Mr Milburn put pressure on civil servants to raise the rating of the hospital trust which covers the two men's neighbouring constituencies.

The most pressing difficulty seemed to be a shortage of skilled tradesmen, which was raised by three of the five tables.

"The emphasis is on people getting university degrees, but what about plumbers and electricians?" one woman asked Mr Blair.

"We have restarted modern apprenticeships, but they only cover 200,000 people," he replied.

"There are a lot of courses available to them. Maybe they don't know about them, or they are put off by having to pay money for them. They may need some help with that."

Another resident told him about the problems of anti-social behaviour.

"The big problem is underage drinking rather than drugs," Mr Blair was told.

"There are hard drugs that feed through into crime, but it is tackling effectively the underlying reasons for the underage drinking that is important."

A young mother wanted Mr Blair to encourage breast-feeding in public.

"It is the most healthy start for children and so it will put less stress on the health service," she said.

Members of the South Durham Credit Union pressed Mr Blair to give their organisation greater assistance. At the moment, it takes members ten weeks before they are entitled to a loan from the union.

"But if your washing machine goes and you've got three kids, you can't wait ten weeks so you have to go to a loan shark," said a mother. "You know you will pay more, but you need a washing machine."

There was also conversation about providing flexibility of childcare and transport systems for workers on twilight shifts in County Durham.

As well as listening to his constituents' questions, Mr Blair challenged them.

"We are trying to provide the right help for people, but how do you fund it?" he asked.

"SureStart, for example, covers 400,000 people in the whole country and if we are to expand that we have to work out how to fund it."

Discussing better facilities to stop young people offending, he asked: "You will still have a group of people, no matter what you provide, who will cause a nuisance. What do we do with them?"

Finally, he said: "The Government can't do everything. I can try to raise my own kids but I can't raise yours. In the end there's a responsibility that people have to take for their own lives."

After the meeting, Steve Crooks, from Chilton, who invited Mr Blair to attend a meeting of the Ferryhill SureStart Dads Club and undertake some martial arts training, said: "Our table was talking about improving the prospects of young kids, and if anything is taken from it that will be good. But if people aren't listening at the end of the day, there's no point in having a big conversation. Mr Blair was taking notes, so it will be interesting to see what happens."