I APPRECIATE that hyperbole is part and parcel of a modern day MP’s armoury but even that can’t explain the claim by Stockton South MP Matt Vickers that “there are already 20,000 more cops on the street in the UK” (Echo, June 26).

Now I’m not sure what or when he is comparing the “20,000 more” with? And are they really all “on the street”.

And, even if they were, wouldn’t this just take us back to the numbers that were in the police before the deliberate Tory policy of austerity devastated their numbers along with the rest of the public sector.

It’s clear that the Tory party’s press machine is working flat out in the North-East as we see every day in the local press, but the least we should expect is that MPs get the basic facts right.

Mind you, they may just all be following the example of their leader who has a track record that is second to none when it comes to being economical with the truth.

Dave Anderson, Middleton-in-Teesdale