Letters: 'I must challenge John on his letter about Labour and debt'

He says: “Every time Labour gets into power we end up with huge debt."

Not compared with the Tories, we don’t.

In the last nine years, the Tories have increased our national debt by a trillion pounds (a thousand billion), i.e. by £111bn a year.

This is twice what Labour borrowed in a total of 33 years in power, which at £15bn a year is a fraction of Tory borrowing.

Labour has also repaid more debt than the Tories.

Mr Young says: “Attlee and Bevan…did not have a clue when it comes to creating a successful economy."

In just six years, the post war Labour government rebuilt our shattered economy with full employment, created the NHS, and built a million new homes and over 1,000 new schools.

Living standards improved, as did social security for all. The “poor and less well off workers” Mr Young refers to benefitted under Labour but have suffered greatly in the last nine years of Tory rule.

Chris Foote Wood, Eggleston