John Sharp seems to be living in a fantasy world, when he praises the Tories for putting us "back on the road to success" (Mailbox, October 9).
I do agree that Labour bears
some responsibility for the 2008 crash, but this had nothing to
do with profligate spending, it
was about what they let the banks get away with, with the only Tory objection being that it wasn't enough.
What is more, the UK economy was then recovering, until George Osborne's austerity measures choked this off.
As a result we have seen the slowest recovery from recession since the Second World War.
Of course the Tories argue that they had no option, because of the level of government debt that they inherited, but Osborne's austerity measures have actually only served to push up the national debt, due to increased unemployment and a reduced tax take.
In fact he has ended up creating more debt in five years than the previous Labour Government did in 13 – and much of the debt created by Labour was a result of bailing out the banks, not spending on public services.
The Tories' handling of the economy has resulted in the longest period of falling real wages in
recorded history and soaring
unemployment, only partially
hidden by vast numbers of people's benefits being stopped – often for spurious reasons – and by a big increase in part time working and zero hours contracts.
However, it has not been a case of being "all in it together", because the incomes of the top few per cent have continued soar, as everyone else's have fallen.
Alongside this, the Tories have engaged in a cut-price sell-off of yet more public assets to their rich friends and large scale privatisation of public services.
This ends up channelling our taxes into the pockets of shareholders.
Malcolm Hunter, Leicester.
