Dear Readers,

A Labour supporter wrote a letter recently that was published in a local newspaper on 24 April. As for the comments on UKIP it is for my UKIP opponent to respond.

The support, who is clearly misleading the readers claims the reason for all that is wrong in the region is the lack of employment. Under Labour unemployment grew by 50,000 in the North East. The Conservative led coalition has created 47,000 more jobs. Far from demonising unemployment we have given people the chance to find work. There is still further work to be done to reduce the scourge of unemployment, but we will do it. In the North East, unemployment benefit claims are down 42% and youth unemployment is down 52%. Clearly this Labour supporter should be voting Conservative.

In his letter, the supporter claims that the Labour party will provide jobs for all unemployed under 25 year olds. It is the free enterprise market that creates jobs not vague promises to keep the party faithful happy. The Labour Party has historically left the British economy in a terrible state, with the Conservatives having to re-enter government to clear up the mess. Don’t let it happen again. If Labour are re-elected we may end up like Greece who are a fortnight away from being bankrupt, with usually the less well off, civil servants and pensioners not receiving their monthly income. It is the poor who suffer the most in these circumstances.

The coalition government has done more in 5 years to catch tax cheats than the Labour Government did from 1997 to 2010. Labour also had a 40 pence tax regime for the top earners for most of their 13 years in power, yet months before the 2010 election increased it to 50 pence. The rate has been 45 pence in recent history. Readers can deduce that historically Labour have helped the wealthy more than the Coalition Government. The Coalition Government spent record amounts on the NHS, it was the Labour Government that introduced the private sector to the NHS with the introduction of the vanity projects paid for by PFI.

The Conservatives have seen the North East make the biggest rise (for the UK) in living standards since the start of the recession. This is set out by the Resolution Foundation a think tank. It is also the only region of the UK that exports more goods than it imports. While everything in the garden is not rosy it is a lot better than it was in May 2010. I therefore encourage all voters to put their cross next to my name on the ballot paper, to help ensure economic success for you and to secure the future we all deserve.
Scott Wood
Conservative Party candidate for Sedgefield.

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