Dear Sir,

Peter Turner (letter 15/7/01) seems to have a very short memory and an ostrich-like ability not to recognise the changes brought about by a Labour Government.

He has forgotten what living in our communities was like before 1997. Under the Tories, we were under great pressure with cuts in our health, education and other basic services, the closure of many local industries giving high levels of unemployment, lack of local spending and feeling of hopelessness for many. Their recent election campaign, offering more of the same, demonstrated that the Tories had learned nothing new in opposition.

What has a Labour Government done for us? Economic stability has brought more prosperity - 28 per cent fall in local unemployment, with 938 young people getting opportunities on the New Deal. Those in work benefit from the minimum wage. Average mortgages are down £1,200 per year compared with under the Tories.

Health spending locally has gone from £247m, in 1997, to £447 in 2001, with more than 200 extra nurses helping to reduce waiting lists by 3000.

More education funding means that infants taught in classes of more than 30 in Leigh have fallen from 1,728 to zero, and education standards have risen.

Two thousand, three hundred local families are £30 per week better off through the Working Families Tax Credit, whilst just less than 17,000 of pensioners are getting the £200 winter fuel payment.

Much has been achieved, but there is more to do. Andy Burnham has already fulfilled his promise to open an office and to live in the constituency. He is already working hard to ensure that local people will continue to benefit from the return of a Labour Government with its mandate to improve health and education.

Peter Smith, chairman Leigh Labour Party

Anne Turnock, John Clarke, vice-chairs