I FIND it amazing to occasionally run into a member of the public who still holds the view that New Labour is a desirable form of government for the country.

More than 170,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost -- 80 per cent of these in the North -- since Blair and his cronies came to power.

We are told that council tax rises will be 20 per cent next year; our pension funds have been raided to the tune of £5billion and that the drop-out rate, from higher education due to the expense has never been as high as it is today.

The New Labour cry of "Education, education, education" seems a little hollow when the costs of sending bright youngsters to universities effectively discriminate against and form a barrier to the less well-off families.

How in heaven's name can anyone on an ordinary income pay the thousands of pounds a year required to send a son or daughter to university? And let's not forget, Gordon Brown, that this is net money -- paid after all other taxes have been paid. No Tax Relief here.

Therefore, a government that claims to be against elitism in all its forms actually continues to encourage it.

A contradiction? Of course, but not if you remember who holds the purse strings.

A return to the Grant System would be the fairest way. Several of my contemporaries went to Oxbridge in the 1960s. Nowadays, they wouldn't have been able to afford the bus fare to either town.

Even if they could have made their way there and successfully finish their education, they would have been saddled with the "compulsory second mortgage" of huge loans for many years following graduation.

This whole system is due for an overhaul. Unfortunately, such a move will not take place under the Socialists.

It may happen if we are able to remove Blair and Co and the rest of the confidence tricksters in about a year's time; and at the same time make sure that any alternative government takes this important message to heart in its manifesto and looks hard at the grant tax relief alternative.

KEVIN WEBB, Burns Drive, Baxenden.