Letter Morning Star published plus 1 the i didn`t

Emily Thornberry`s succinct but accurate condemnation of the claim made by Michael Fallon about Labour`s policy towards the Falklands can be extended to a large majority of the pledges made by the Conservative party in recent months (Morning Star,15/05/17). Two budgets have proved the mistake of believing May`s promises to help the "just about managing", just as cuts to council grants exposed the myth that was George Osborne`s "northern powerhouse".

     Labour has rightly labelled May`s proposals to increase social housingas "spin with no substance" whilst the prime minister`s plan to introduce "the biggest extension of workers` rights by any Conservative government" again reveals how these arrogant Tories are treating the voters as mugs (Morning Star,16/05/17) . As practically all Conservative governments throughout history have reduced unions and workers` rights, one would have to go back to Disraeli`s administration of 1874-80, to see a Tory government extending them. His Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act restored the right of trade union members to picket peacefully, a blatant attempt by Disraeli to woo the working class voters. His duplicity was obvious, and he lost the 1880 election. We can only hope history does sometimes repeat itself.

Imagine the fuss there would have been if Labour had not explained in great detail how it was going to pay for its planned expenditure! Yet, when the Tories do exactly that, your paper acknowleges it with a brief article, taking up approximately one tenth of page 5 (Heavy on policy, but light on costings, 19/05/17). Half of page 8, however, is devoted to an anaysis of Labour`s costings relating to just one of its manifesto`s fiscal points, the increase of corporation tax to 26% (Fact Check: Could Labour raise £19,4bn by increasing corporation tax? 19/05/17). Even this failed to mention that the levels of corporation tax in France, Italy, the USA and Germany are all higher than the one proposed by Labour.