IT is clear that the Conservatives are scenting victory at the next General Election. I have no reason to believe they are wrong.

The Labour Party has been in office since 1997, and though it has done a great deal of good, there is no avoiding the fact that it has made mistakes – and some of them will have offended many electors.

The factor which I cannot pretend to understand is what electors are going to think about the unemployment, the failed businesses and the way it has been found necessary to borrow in order to sustain the banking system.

I would not apportion blame, as the Conservatives seem to be doing on the Government’s fiscal policies. In fact, I think that a lot of different people have contributed to the dire economic position we are in.

The Conservative Party has changed, and that will be to its advantage. The question is: has it changed enough to restore confidence in its delivery of policies to attract back voters who abandoned the party in the past three elections.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.