ANOTHER politician – Stockton South Conservative parliamentary candidate James Wharton – promising to deliver tough sentencing (HAS, March 4).

Until politicians come out of their “gated communities” or from behind their bodyguards we are not going to see a real change. It may take the unfortunate killing of an MP before the end of derisory sentences for gun and knife crime. Did we not once allow our lawmakers to correctly abolish the death penalty on the understanding that life imprisonment would mean exactly that?

Members of our Armed Forces are dying in part to stem the flow of heroin, while at home the dealers receive laughably short jail terms.

The same politicians are only too eager to invoke so called “anti-terrorism laws” to prevent us protesting, for instance, outside Parliament, and some of them want to hold us for weeks without trial. Then again, a politician is more likely to be the target of a fanatic than a knife-wielding drug addict on a robbery or mugging.

I expect the police are sick of seeing the same stream of repeat offenders involved in crime.

Things won’t change. After all, Magna Carta was written for the benefit of the earls, not the serfs.

B Jackson, Sacriston, Co Durham.

THE revelation that more than 90 per cent of all burglaries go unsolved in County Durham exposes Labour’s real record on crime.

Over the past 13 years, this Government has spent millions on glossy leaflets and TV adverts promoting great sounding initiatives and pledges.

But the reality is that violent crimes have gone up while burglary detection rates have gone down.

County Durham is well served by its police, police community support officers and street wardens working hard with communities to tackle crime.

However, with its record on burglaries, violent crime and unreported crime, it’s clear we have a Government which promised to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, but has failed on both.

Conservatives claim it’s time for change and when it comes to really cracking crime, they’re right. Politicians should get out of the way and let our police get on with the job.

Nick Varley, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Durham City.