IN his column, headed “Give Gordon his due for some things”

(Echo, June 11), Rob Merrick expresses the view that Gordon Brown was a brilliant Chancellor for ten years, taking people out of poverty, etc.

I have to differ with that view, as someone who has spent the past ten years working voluntarily to try to make life better for people, myself included, who live on an estate falling in the most deprived ten per cent in the country.

Much of what Mr Brown claimed was simply smoke and mirrors with very little achieved in making a real difference; many, including myself, saw a drop in living standards.

Real jobs did not materialise and many more are being lost now after his mismanagement of the economy came to the fore with the recent financial collapse.

David Preston, Darlington.