THE headline "Inheritance tax cut won't help North-East'" (Echo, Oct 2) is a blatant untruth.

The headline, about the Conservatives' plans to raise the threshold to £1m, is only applicable if the Liberal Democrats' threshold of £500,000 was applicable which, of course, it is not and is never likely to be.

Our Prime Minister, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, deliberately raised the thresholds for Inheritance Tax and Stamp Duty far less than the inflation of house prices to get more tax which the Government could throw about like confetti.

Nobody minds paying taxes if the money is used in a meaningful way.

This Government has wasted resources. For example, it spent £10m to refurbish a hospital which it now intends to close. Another example is the destruction of thousands of Victorian homes at a cost of far more than would have been needed to bring them up to date.

I have never voted Conservative and never will but, nevertheless, I expect you to print the truth.

John W Antill, Darlington.