LABOUR has changed since the Eighties, but it has got rid of one set of dangerous policies and substituted them with another.

In the 1980s, Labour wanted to withdraw from Europe, abandon the nuclear deterrent that guaranteed our security and wreck the economy with policies that had already failed.

Now, Labour want to make Britain part of a federal European state, wreck the constitution, raise taxes and reintroduce corporatism with a stakeholder economy.

Labour have begun to speak the language of choice and opportunity and to pay lip service to the idea that the market can deliver what people want.

But their socialist instincts remain as strong as ever. A Labour government in the Nineties would be as disastrous as Labour government was in the Seventies.

The British people should not be fooled by Tony Blair's rhetoric about improving standards in health care and education, or promises about prudent public spending and his reluctance to take risks with inflation.

The reality of Labour in power would be return to a lowering of standards and under-investment in health and education, and economic mismanagement under the influence of Labour's trade union paymasters.

D PEARSON (Mr), Vice chairman, Blackburn Conservative Party, Rawstorne Street, Blackburn.

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