TRUST, as we have said several times of late, is at the heart of the forthcoming General Election. For many voters it is in very short supply and in urgent need of rebuilding.

The utter stupidity of Conservative candidate Ed Matts, therefore, is hard to believe.

Mr Matts is the Tory candidate in the key marginal seat of Dorset South. With Labour holding a slender majority of 153 at the last election, it is a seat the Tories have high hopes of taking.

But how can the people of Dorset South possibly trust Mr Matts? He was pictured carrying a photograph of an asylum seeker and holding a placard saying: "Let them stay".

But when the photograph was distributed as part of Mr Matts' campaign literature, he'd had it doctored to read: "Controlled immigration", in keeping with Tory party policy.

What is also hard to believe is that Tory leader Michael Howard has chosen not to sack Mr Matts on the basis that he has apologised for his "foolish mistake".

If Mr Howard wanted to display the inner steel of a future Prime Minister when he got rid of deputy chairman Howard Flight last month, what message has he sent by failing to sack a candidate guilty of such blatant deception?

It matters not a jot to us which party Mr Matts represents. He symbolises the problem gnawing away at democracy in our country - a lack of trust in politicians.

And Mr Howard should have jettisoned him from the election campaign without a second thought.