THE three prospective Conservative Parliamentary candidates say the number of people in work is at a record high (HAS, Jan 26).

Yes, there are more people in work, but what sort of work are they in? Many are in low-paid, part-time or insecure jobs, or on zero-hours contracts. You only have to work one hour per week to be classified as employed.

Vicious cuts to in-work benefits by this Government, on top of the bedroom tax and the benefits cap, have left many working people in dire straits. The disastrous roll-out of Universal Credit has hit particularly hard, leaving many families with no money, and reliant on food banks. There are, so far, about 75,000 Universal Credit claimants in the North-East, of whom roughly one third are in work.

These candidates tell us: "Every extra person now in work is seeing their self-esteem, mental well-being and economic circumstances being improved by having a job."

I think they need to remove their rose-tinted Tory spectacles.

Pete Winstanley, Durham

Mickey mouse

IN their letter “Work Figures” (HAS, Jan 26), the local Conservative Parliamentary candidates Dehenna Davison-Fareham, Peter Gibson and Matt Vickers say there are more people in work than ever before – since 2010, they say that 3.5m more people have the security of a wage packet.

But that wage packet is so low because one full-time job has been sliced into four part-time ones. Employment is bound to increase this way, but opportunities for working families won't.

As a result, huge numbers of people are having to claim Working Tax Credits or attend food banks just to survive.

I wouldn't call this a Tory success story – I'd call it a national disgrace.

It is my opinion, since 2010 the Tories have falsified the employment figures, downplaying the true extent of the unemployment crisis.

There are about a million job seekers a year sanctioned by this Government and they are duly removed from the figures.

Same goes for the thousands of local jobless sent on two-bit training courses run by the Mickey Mouse club.

And finally, let's not forget the endless stream of unpaid mandatory work activity programmes.

Stephen Dixon, Redcar

Come off it

THE three Conservative Parliamentary candidates for Bishop Auckland, Darlington and Stockton South (HAS, Jan 26) claim that there are now 3.5m more people in work than in 2010. They say: "It means more people than ever before have the security of a wage packet."

Great, but then you ask yourself what is a food bank and why are thousands of people having to resort to them? What are the figures on violent crime – is it not true that there are 15 to 17 per cent more people today victims of violent crime than in 2010?  You also ask yourself about the budget that Durham County Council gets from central government which is well down from 2010 and means, according to the BBC local news, that more and more people working in the public sector are suffering from stress-related illnesses as they try to do three jobs instead of one.

Then you read that the number of people going financially insolvent has jumped to levels not seen for at least six years.  So I would say to Dehenna Davison-Fareham, Peter Gibson and Matt Vickers: "Come off it." 

Name and address supplied, Crook