Wednesday's Letters: Help is there for those with mortgage worries

I want to be crystal clear that where we can help struggling families to stay in their homes, we will. The level of support for homeowners that is now in place has never been done before – and it was certainly not in place during the early '90s recession. To date, over 330,000 people have received help or advice with their mortgage, so there should be no doubt about the Government's commitment to help struggling homeowners.

But I will not pretend that we can help everyone. Every repossession is a tragedy for the family involved but the fact is that some families are drowning in debt and will never get on top of their mortgage payments.

I don't want to offer false hope and I am trying to level with people in these circumstances by saying that, when faced with the difficult choice, a fresh start may be the best option for them.

It is a hard truth but it can mean people are lifted from a downward spiral of despair and helped instead to get their finances and lives back on track.

This is an uncomfortable message, I know. But it is the same message that charities and debt advisers give people on a daily basis. I am, however, determined to continue to ensure that the number of people in this position is as small as possible. That's why I have extended the help and support on offer, put special backstop schemes in place for those in the most need and legal changes have been made to ensure repossession is always the last resort.

The very best thing to do is seek help as early as possible. So I urge anyone struggling with their mortgage to go to

www.direct.gov.uk/mortgagehelp or call the National Debtline at 0808 808 4000.

From: John Healey MP, Housing Minister, London.

Country is not going to the dogs

From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor, Dewsbury.

YOUR columns are regularly filled with letters complaining that this country is going to the dogs, the reasons most frequently given are immigration and the EU.

The situation is not nearly so grim as it is so often painted. Many have arrived here to do essential jobs which the native population either can't or won't do. A large number of eastern Europeans have now, apparently, returned home. Even illegal immigrants have to work to live.

It is rarely pointed out by critics that well over half a million Britons have left these shores for sunnier climes. Population movement is a two-way process and insofar as workers are replacing the retired, this should be to our advantage.

So far as the EU is concerned, Europe is now far more stable than it has ever been in history. It has taken two devastating wars for nations to learn to band together to make power politics and arms races a thing of the past.

In increasing the size of the European community, the EU promotes democratic values among potential members and the rooting out of corruption.

This has been an epoch-making change in European history but critics seem unable to rise above the level of sniping at the way the EU is run.

I believe its bureaucracy is on a smaller scale than, say, the devolved Scottish government. Whatever degree of independence the UK enjoyed was lost years before they eventually joined the then EEC in 1972.

Tarnished world

From: David W Wright, Uppleby, Easingwold, North Yorkshire.

THE report about the BBC's top earners sharing a 54m pot (Yorkshire Post, February 10) in addition to the completely unjustifiable contracts and fees given to the entertainers such as Ross and Paxman, etc, must surely give credence to the suggestion that perhaps politicians should also be paid these inflated salaries as they are also entertainers?

One would have thought that by paying MPs a comparable salary to the BBC top-earners and footballers, then perhaps we just might get a better quality of person wishing to join the Westminster gravy train.

But, seriously, this is not likely to happen as paying more to our MPs will not solve the problem of attracting better qualified people of integrity into politics until the political parties themselves – and the electorate ultimately – refuse to adopt and support inferior candidates.

Politics is now a dirty word and much has to be done to restore the public's faith in the tarnished system.

Brown must go

From: Janet Berry, Hambleton, York

FIRST of all we have the bizarre performance by the tearful Alastair Campbell standing up for his pal Tony Blair and saying how he thought about the injured in Iraq every day.

Now we have Gordon Brown showing his human side with Piers Morgan; I wish he hadn't.

He is being manipulated by Peter Mandelson. I will never forget watching Brown and Campbell being interviewed and Mandelson poked them both on the shoulder and gestured for them to move closer to the interviewer and they both moved like little schoolboys.

Talk is cheap and it is scandalous how Brown has sold our gold, taxed us all to the hilt and almost taken our country into bankruptcy. I have absolutely no confidence in him.

He is no leader and is not fit to represent our country. This last-chance effort to show his true character failed miserably. He is inept, inefficient and a total disgrace. The sooner he goes the better.

Distrust of politicians

From: Nick Martinek, Briarlyn Road, Huddersfield.

THERE were cynics during the Labour economic debacle of the 1970s, but they were outnumbered by the political enthusiasts on both sides. Not so nowadays. I do not know anyone who has a good word for politicians.

The biggest financial problem we face is the debt that Gordon Brown has created – economic mismanagement on an epic scale. The majority of this debt is structural; that is, it is nothing to do with either the recession or the banker bailouts.

Assume the debt is 1.5 trillion when we, the taxpayers, start paying it back. At five per cent interest we will have to pay back 200bn per year for 20 years. This is an enormous hit of 13 per cent of GDP every year. That is twice as bad as the recession and 10 times longer.

The reality is we cannot take a hit this big, so in all likelihood my son will still be paying off Brown's debt when he retires in 40 years' time.

None of the three main parties is remotely facing up to this millstone. People sense there is something wrong, so they rightly distrust the politicians – all of them.

Self-delusion over Britain's place in the EU

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

HAVING read Timothy Kirkhope's article (Yorkshire Post, February 9) it would appear that all MEPs – with the exception of UKIP – live in a fantasy land.

Mr Kirkhope's article is so full of self-delusion, it is unbelievable that this man thinks that the people of this country can be hoodwinked into believing this drivel.

The vast majority of the electorate know that with the EU supplying 80 per cent of our laws that none of the three main parties can change anything. With a mere seven per cent of the voting power in the EU parliament, Britain cannot protect its own interests.

Mr Kirkhope states that the EU will not feature prominently in the forthcoming election and he is most likely right as the three main parties will try to dodge this issue.

He also says that anyone who supports British withdrawal is

unpatriotic. I would have thought that it is the other way around; anyone who sells our country out to a foreign entity without a mandate to do so is being disloyal.

He says that he is against a federal Europe, but must surely know that this was always and still is the ultimate goal of the EU as divulged by Edward Heath shortly before his death.

The man Mr Kirkhope claims to have helped to re-elect, Jose Manuel Barroso, is a federalist whose sole aim is the United States of Europe, and who has stated that nothing must stop this from happening.

As for reforming the Common Agricultural Policy, this is a non-starter. The French will never allow this to happen, likewise with the Common Fisheries Policy.

Mr Kirkhope then says we must make sure we get our share of EU funding to support job creation. We pay in membership fees alone some 13.5bn and get back in EU aid less than half that amount. We have also lost thousands of jobs to the EU while subsidising our European rivals.

Finally, the biggest joke of all, creating a free market.

The only nation in Europe that believes in a free market is Britain – that is why Germany, France, and Italy have a number of car manufacturers and we have none and why Cadbury's has been allowed to go to a foreign buyer – something which would not have happened in France or Germany.

In conclusion, Mr Kirkhope's article is basically a blatant attempt at electioneering on behalf of the Conservatives.

Time to axe quangos

From: Alec Denton, Oxford Avenue, Guiseley, Leeds.

THE article by Eamonn Butler (Yorkshire Post, February 15), based on his book The Rotten State of Britain, should be compulsory reading for all aspiring Members of Parliament. I fully endorse his views regarding the damage an over-centralised government has done to our democracy and share his worry that the task of reversing the process may be beyond our MPs.

However, the current financial crisis does provide a glimmer of hope. What a wonderfully positive statement it would be, if an incoming government were to axe a number of quangos in the interest of reducing the Government's own spend and to set an example to local authorities.

I agree also that the problem of over-centralisation started with Margaret Thatcher, but the real villain of the piece and destroyer of our democracy, has been the Smiling Assassin, Tony Blair, and his New Labour colleagues, many of whom are still in the Government.

All part of the daily routine

From: Dr RJ Kirkham, High Trees Court, Sherburn-in-Elmet, North

Yorkshire.

IN your comment (Yorkshire Post, February 13) you argue that "there are some (police) officers who deserve special responsibility payments – for example, those family liaison officers who work unpredictable and unsocial hours while helping grieving relatives come to terms with sudden death".

Most nurses will tell you this is part of their day-to-day life on the wards. Most will see no rationale for these payments; they should be discontinued with immediate effect.

Officers who genuinely believe they should be entitled to such payments should reflect on why they joined the police service in the first place.

Homeless plight

From: Alice Hall, Burton Road, Lincoln.

ALMOST all cities have homeless people around the main precinct. Some are beggars, others are not. Different police forces deal with poor people differently. Some harshly, others compassionately. It can be an eye-opener.

Counting sheep

From Jim Beck, Tickhill, Doncaster.

ALTHOUGH not of farming stock, my mother's father, Willie Akeroyd, did tell her that Yorkshire shepherds counted their flocks by counting yan, tan, tithera, pithera and so on.

Can anyone confirm this and perhaps add more numbers to the sequence?