WHEN I wrote my letter supporting the creation of a Food Standards Agency to help safeguard consumers against poor food hygiene, I expected a response from the Tory Candidate for Astley Bridge himself not his master.

However, as Mr Walsh has opted to help him out I would make the same point to him. A flat charge of less than £2 a week on food outlets is far fairer than the £160 annual tax bill that has been heaped upon every household in Britain to fund the clean-up of a BSE crisis created by a Conservative

Government.

Mr Walsh may well try and label the charge as a Poll Tax (and probably at the same time try and pretend that he did not support the Poll Tax when it was introduced by Mrs Thatcher) but the basic facts are that the public is being burdened by an enormous tax bill because of BSE. The Government has allocated millions of pounds to part fund the Food Standards Agency so surely it is only fair that food outlets shoulder some of the burden as well.

Instead of trying to divert attention away from the fact that we are all paying £160 a year because of his Government's incompetence, Mr Walsh should perhaps say sorry for once and admit they got it wrong.

M Schmid

Bolton

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