SIR,
The usual selective memories from Tory supporters argue nonsensically that Labour failed Britain.
Labour spent the best part of 10 years trying to fix the neglect of the Tory years, and the last two trying to prop up the mess left by their financier friends.
Just think of Monmouth as a microcosm of the wider society and think back 13 years.
No new bridge, no new school at Kymin View, no new hospital, no Waitrose, no new facilities and houses at Rockfield to bring people in with spending power.
No Kings Head, no refurbished Shire Hall, no leisure centre, no improvements on the A40, no free prescriptions, waiting lists a fraction of what they were and crime down over 50 per cent.
Unfortunately rural housing and transport were too badly damaged by the privatisation of the 1980s to be repaired sufficiently.
Did they get everything right?
Clearly they got too close to the bankers, when Cameron and Co said they'd get even closer and regulate less.
They probably got carried away with some initiatives and created too many quangos, when Cameron and Co were promising to match them penny for penny.
They probably got it wrong on the Iraq war for the right reasons when Cameron and Co backed them to the hilt.
The bulk of the deficit was caused by bailing out the banks, not by profligacy and it's now clear that although Cameron and Co had nothing to offer then, they only offer misery now.
All the evidence points to growth being the best cure for the deficit, not austerity.
The next five years will undo all of the progress made as crime spirals, homelessness spills from spare rooms and sofas onto our streets, our town centre decays, people start seeking scapegoats and blame the most vulnerable.
Our young people will have nothing to do except show how angry they are.
If this sounds familiar, think back to the 1980s and you'll get some idea of what it looks and feels like.
Welcome to the Tory wastelands.
(Name and address supplied)