Sir, - In the light of the Conservative statements in Westminster on tax may I, with Fay Tinnion, the Richmond spokeswoman for Labour, take this opportunity to offer a Labour perspective from William Hague's constituency.

The people who doubled the national debt are now telling us how to spend the surplus.

The people who delivered the two worst recessions since the war now seem to think it's easy to run a successful economy.

Most comic of all, people who gave us a botched privatisation of the railways and failed to invest in them say things will be better if they were in charge again.

The documents released by Conservative Central Office are clear indications that both Michael Portillo and William Hague are grabbing at anecdotal evidence to try to make a factual argument which is hyped up in their transparent poster campaign.

The truth is that more money than ever before (an extra £40 billion) is being spent on health and education,. Families are being supported with a record rise in child benefit and more than two million people are gaining from the minimum wage.

In addition youth employment is halved with the New Deal and the 10p starting rate of income tax and the lowest mortgage rate for 30 years are helping people now.

ROY HUTCHINGS

Agent for Richmond constituency Labour Party

Morton-on-Swale.

Be transparent

Sir, - Tony Blair claims that he is "proud" Labour is attracting donations from ex-Tory supporters, but the recent news that Labour has received multi-million pound donations from wealthy backers must alarm anyone who believes that political influence should not be "bought".

However, the news that Labour has received money from Robert Bourne - the head of the consortium attempting to buy the Dome - is even more serious. It is far from satisfactory that Mr Bourne has donated many thousands of pounds to the constituency office of Culture Minister Chris Smith, the man ultimately responsible for the Dome.

Labour say that everything is above board. To quote from another famous scandal, they would say that, wouldn't they?

Labour promised us they would be whiter than white. Suddenly, they are beginning to look as grubby as the Tories were.

One of the reasons the electorate got tired of the Tories was that they were indelibly associated with sleaze. Labour's insistence on accepting big bucks from corporate donors, as well as receiving large sums from the trade unions, means that they too are in hock to powerful interests.

Liberal Democrats believe that the issue of party donations and spending is one that needs urgent review, perhaps by a Royal Commission, if we are to achieve open and transparent government.

GREG STONE

Parliamentary spokesman, Vale of York Liberal Democrats

Thirsk.