IT is with some disbelief that I read the constant letters and columns attacking Conservative policies of the Eighties. These people seem to suffer from convenient amnesia when ignoring the bankrupt state of the country in the Seventies.

Those were the days when inefficient nationalised industries and government spending of 45 per cent of our national income bled us to the brink of ruin.

This amnesia now enables the critics to forget 13 years of Labour government which has created a similar crisis, with government spending now having crept up to 48 per cent of income.

This Government’s penchant for over-regulation and legislation, together with unaccountable spending from which little apparent benefit can be seen, set us well on the way to our unprecedented £175bn debt, and meant our pain from the recession will be far greater than most other countries.

Gordon Brown’s much-vaunted policy on dealing with this debt seems to be a stalling process in an effort to retain power.

The folly of this failure to tackle the deficit sooner is likely to lower confidence in our credit rating, resulting in increases in our borrowing costs.

Voters should also take note of the loss of confidence in the pound at the thought of another Labour term in office.

John Heslop, Gainford, near Darlington.