THE General Election should be called now. No useful purpose is served for the nation by delaying it until the constitution makes one essential.

We know what we need to know about the political parties, and all they can do is clarify and amplify what they have already declared.

We have had experience of both main parties in power, and from what I see there is no radical difference between Conservative and New Labour governments.

All we will see now is a long election campaign, which looks as if it is going to resemble contests between would-be presidents of the US.

I do not see that we are going to learn anything we do not know now or can expect based on past performances.

My personal problem is that I do not know who to vote for, and it would be a negative sentiment were I to declare a plague on all your houses.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.

THE political scene at the moment reminds me of the months prior to 1997 when Tony Blair won the first of his General Election victories.

He cast aside most of the old socialist ideology and concentrated on the middle classes and it worked – and it succeeded for a further two elections.

David Cameron finds himself in a similar position to Mr Blair in 1997. One political commentator said in 1997 Mr Blair clothed himself in blue and Mr Cameron is now clothing himself in red.

We will have to see if Mr Cameron can deliver what he says he wants to do.

Come the election traditional Labour voters will have to decide to either stay loyal to their long-standing allegiance to Labour or change to the Tories or the Liberal Democrats. We shall see.

Hugh Pender, Darlington.