REGARDING the reply of Mr K Hargreaves (Letters, November 22) to my previous comments, should we compare the economy inherited by this government to the one inherited by the 1979 Conservative government? There is no comparison.

When Tony Blair was campaigning to withdraw from the EU and wearing his CND badge, a Conservative government was having to sort out the financial mess left by the previous Labour government.

During the 1997 General Election campaign, we were told that taxes would not rise under a Labour government. Since then, they have risen by £30 billion, with no improvement in public services.

Britain pays the highest taxes in Europe. Do Mr Hargreaves and other socialists approve of that?

Perhaps Mr Hargreaves can enlighten me on what this government has done with the huge amount of money it has raised from the fuel duty, because it has certainly not spent it on our transport system, which is in chaos, or on our roads, which are in a terrible state.

COUNCILLOR D PEARSON, Rawstorne Street, Blackburn.