City has lost a good friend

Paddy Ashdown visited Sunderland during the Save Our Shipyards campaign and he willingly gave his support, as leader of the Liberal Democrats, to the workers and campaigners.

He met with local people at the Shipyards and, on local television, he made a strong case for keeping shipbuilding going on the Wear.

It was only later that we realised that Sunderland had been stabbed in the back by Mrs Thatcher’s secret deals to sacrifice our proud industry in favour of shipbuilding on the Clyde.

Sunderland has lost a good friend. John A Lennox