May 7: Tough time on farm taught us never to trust Labour

I ALWAYS always look forward to Bill Carmichael’s column on Fridays in The Yorkshire Post, having said many times that he comes from a working background and myself being a son of an engine driver who himself started as a cleaner/dogsbody on the railway. I was brought up in a strong socialist household, but I will never ever vote Labour.

I failed English language so left school and went into farm work with the ambition to have my own farm like my elder brother. After about six or seven years of hard work, my wife and I had put aside enough to put down a deposit on the property where we now live. We kept pigs and hens and started rearing Jersey calves. Having become a bit established, a Labour government came into office to solve the miners’ dispute and promoted a programme of investment which people like ourselves went along with. Then came economic crisis. Animals could not suffer so it was we who had to tighten our belts and live on less than the miners’ wage rise, but we were determined not to go under and the following Conservative government brought us out of a very dark tunnel. The lesson we did learn was to look to your own finances and not listen to untrustworthy Labour politicians.