THE New Year brought policy statements from the three main political parties – and it is good to see Tory and Liberal Democrat ideas come under proper scrutiny at last.

Last week, David Cameron got in a mess over his marriage tax proposals and he still hasn’t spelled out exactly how he will carry out his promise to “reward” marriage.

On Monday, he couldn’t make clear whether he would back his Shadow Chancellor and match his commitment to reverse National Insurance increases.

Mr Cameron needs to come clean on both issues, plus the rest of his £34bn of unfunded promises, and set out exactly what his policies are and how he will pay for them.

Locally, will the Conservatives guarantee our borough’s Building Schools for the Future programme and that Egglescliffe, All Saints and Conyers School will be added to it – while also guaranteeing our planned new hospital to replace the North Tees and Hartlepool buildings? I very much doubt it.

As for the Lib Dems, they ditched so many policies on Monday they’ve left people wondering what they have left. It is certainly very thin on education, university fees, pensions and the economy.

Yes, scrutiny is good for government – it’s also good for those aspiring to it.

Councillor Alex Cunningham, Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Stockton North.

WHEN one considers how the Labour Party has treated the people of the North-East one wonders how they return Labour MPs.

However, I understand now the level of unswerving support having read the letters of Maurice Baker and Tom Seale (HAS, both Jan 12). Their loyalty is remarkable.

Mr Baker talks of Gordon Brown’s response to the recession as “exemplary, thus enhancing his leadership qualities”. What a shame that the former general secretary of the Labour Party, Peter Watt, does not share that adulation. In fact, Mr Watt describes Mr Brown as being a social introvert with no interpersonal skills whatsoever.

Has Mr Baker considered for one moment who is responsible for the recession and why we are worst placed to deal with it quickly? I suggest close examination will reveal Mr Brown’s fingerprints all over it.

Mr Baker is not alone in his idyllic view of our brooding, petulant Prime Minister. Mr Seale congratulates Mr Brown for the way he “nursed his country through one of the worst recessions”. He goes on to say that as Chancellor “there was none better” than Mr Brown.

While these mindsets exist, the North-East must consign itself to a further five years of Labour rule. God help us all.

Colin T Mortimer, Pity Me, Durham.

I FEEL I have to reply to Jim Tague’s letter (HAS, Jan 13) in which he states: “…history shows Labour will always ruin Britain’s economy – such a shame when it inherited a country in good shape in 1997”.

Good shape, eh! Well, why then were the Tories absolutely routed in the General Election of 1997?

Were we all so stupid that we couldn’t appreciate how lucky we all were under a Conservative government?

It might have been in good shape for the few, but for the rest of us it was an austere time. It took a Labour government to bring fair play in for all and spread the wealth of the nation to all the population, not the privileged few.

Mr Tague is very naive indeed in thinking that none of this present economic woe wouldn’t have happened if the Tories were in power. This is a worldwide problem, and as the Tories were always associated with the banking world and money men we would have been in more or less the same situation.

The only difference is in how a Conservative government would have reacted to the crisis. We will never know.

Alan Dodgson, Barnard Castle, Co Durham.