It raises the question as to what the Labour Party is for? Certainly not social justice and equality.

Labour has abandoned socialism and is now the Tory party Mark II, which taxes the low paid, victimises the elderly and disabled and favours wealthy tax-dodgers. It condones cleaners paying more tax than their billionaire employers! This is the party that gave pensioners a 75p increase, cut benefits to disabled people, taxes care by means testing and increased taxes for 5.3 million low-paid workers.

Labour is doing the job the Conservatives have always done, but does it better. One Tory Party is enough. We don't need another. And the irony is, it is done with the support of those it is punishing.

Not only has Labour deceived its supporters, it is also an obstacle to socialist reform.

Thanks to Labour, pensioners are now the poorest in Europe while the rich get richer.

Labour says decent pensions are unaffordable. But it is affordable to give banks hundred of billions of pounds, spend at current estimates £8bn on the Olympics, wage wars in two countries and fund the obscene excesses of the monarchy.

The reality is that pensioners and working people no longer have a party that represents them. There are alternative socialist parties, which should be given a chance while we still can. If Labour has its way, this failing democracy will soon be as dysfunctional as Mugabe's.

From: Malcolm Hanson, Bachelor Road, Harrogate.

IF Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are going to "compensate" some of the poorer taxpayers for abolishing the 10p tax rate, surely this is discrimination against the rest of the taxpayers and to avoid this discrimination everyone should be compensated?

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley.

SUFFICIENT Old Labour MPs in this Government have realised the real truth of what Gordon Brown planned in his final Budget, to innovate
a rebellion (Yorkshire Post, April 23).

Despite a raft of appeasing pronouncements, there is no actual commitment to do anything. Just vague promises to have a glance at the situation. Why for instance should businesses have to bear the cost of additional taxation through increased minimum wage rates?

Gordon Brown acted cynically passing a future hand-out to the better-off middle classes, for electoral advantage. At the expense of low earners, thereby showing he does not care about the poor who he was happy to disadvantage.

Yet 5.2 million people will still continue having extra tax taken from their wage packets, and if you trust this Government, a modest number may get some refund in the autumn or later or never. Those lucky enough to get this selective mythical refund will only obtain their own money back, which should never have been deducted originally.

"Costly fudge" seems appropriate. Don't forget on a low income, speed matters. A refund in several months does not help when you are ground down every week by regular shortages.

From: Bob Crowther, High Street, Crigglestone, Wakefield.

IN reply to the letter from Terry Palmer regarding the low esteem of the Labour Party (Yorkshire Post, April 25), the present fading of support has not been brought about by the latest tax debacle. The situation has been creeping up upon the country for the past five years or so.

Since the advent of Brown and Co, we have witnessed around 60 stealth taxes, the plundering of pension schemes, the selling of our gold reserves and the loss of confidential information, to name just a
few of their mistakes.

The latest tax faux-pas did not appear overnight due to the fact that Parliament was aware of the situation months ago.

The pontifications from a few MPs about how they would object to this legislation is just a smokescreen prior to the May elections.

We were promised that the era of boom and bust were over and despite the Government laying the blame upon "world economics", no regulations were in place to prevent financial institutions throwing their money about on the speculation that the good times would continue.

In my opinion, their tactics have been akin to gambling on a horse in the National, needless to say, using the taxpayers' money.


Care and good will are priceless


From: Diana M Priestley, Fixby Road, Huddersfield.

EXACTLY what does Tim Mickleburgh mean by "the offspring of an affluent parent having done nothing to deserve it"? (Yorkshire Post, April 24).

What offspring do for their parent has little to do with whether those parents are poor, comfortably off, or affluent. It depends solely
on goodwill. When my father died, just 25 years ago, my mother, a myasthenia sufferer and also well on the way to dementia, became my responsibility.

A year later, her sister, a childless widow, had a stroke which deprived her of speech for the rest of her life – six years. She became my responsibility too. With a full-time job and two teenage children, I found this hard to deal with.

Nevertheless, what I did was small in comparison with those who actually live with their frail or demented relative, whose responsibilities are round the clock.

My friend's aged father lived to be 103. She was 70 herself shortly after he died. She had not had a holiday for years and never left him for more than two hours together.

Who knows what responsibility for me might fall on my already hardworking adult children, who have young families now? I should like to think that anything I may leave behind would go to say thank you to them for their much appreciated care.

A bunch of oxymorons

From: Edward Moss, The View, Alwoodley, Leeds.

I WAS amused to read the same old lament regarding the lack
of product availability to back up the launch of an electronic game console product, in this case, a rather oxymoronic keep- fit product – I presume it is plainly aimed at the hard of thinking, who have great difficulty coming to grips with old-fashioned exercise such as walking, tennis or golf.

However, I would ask Nintendo spokesperson Robert Saunders (Yorkshire Post, April 24) to explain his rather stupid statement
that "the company has asked retailers to stop accepting pre-orders".

How is it possible to "pre-order" anything?

One either orders something, or they don't, it's as simple as that. You don't go to a sofa retailer to "pre-order", you go to "order".

It smacks of the washing powders and dishwasher tablets that are "new and improved" – aside from inferring that their predecessors were absolute rubbish, a product can only be either new or improved, but not both!

Short changed

From: Robert Zann, South View Terrace, Yeadon, Leeds.

HAVE you ever tried to cash in your pound coins and been refused over the sum of £100?

Yes, in today's financial chaos the Halifax branch in Yeadon refused to take coins of the realm over £100. Obviously they are not quite as short as they make out if they can afford to do so. There was a time when a customer was a sought after commodity, especially when they had several personal and company accounts at the same branch plus investments. Not so, I hear ringing in my ears. I was questioned: "Where did you get the money from?"

This question was like a red rag to a bull. If I was asked where I got my money from, did they ask everyone at the counter the same question? I felt embarrassed at the counter because of the question and felt victimised because I wished to deposit coin of the realm in my current account.

It would be a great day
when banks truly looked after long-term customers on a personal level.