Tories have left the country broken

I AGREE with some of what Peter J Newton’s letter (“Only tough decisions will improve the economy”, March 21) says about paying junior doctors and repairs to potholes, but why when he is making these points does he keep referencing Labour?

Does he not realise that Labour aren’t in government? For the last 14 years its been the Tories who have been in government. It’s their infighting and sheer incompetence that has broken Britain.

Mr Newton says it will cost £8.2 billion to repair potholes. That statement alone condemns the Tories and the fact they’ve cut realterm funding to local councils by so much that virtually every council in the country, no matter which party is in control, is already bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy.

He opposes Labour’s plan to charge VAT to private schools. I’ve no problem if people are rich enough and wish to send their children to private schools but why should taxpayers be subsidising it? If they want to send their children to private school, then they pay for it.

He talks about needing a great leader like Churchill or Thatcher in this time of crisis. Churchill was a great leader during the war but was useless in peacetime. It was his Tories who opposed the setting up of the NHS at every point.

Thatcher destroyed much of Britain’s manufacturing industries as a vanity project. She was more interested in trying to take way union powers and workers’ rights than doing what was best for the British people. Thatcher would have only lasted one term if it had not been for the Falklands War, which she handled well. She was miles behind in the polls at the time.

This country is broken wherever you look. Kevin Ratcliffe