SIR: On September 9, John Major sent a letter to targeted people in Bolton West trying to explain away the 22 tax increases his government introduced since the last election, despite promising 'year on year tax cuts'.

What he failed to highlight was that one of the reasons for this was that his government practically gave away the water industry. This deal cost the taxpayers a small fortune.

The government sold the ten water companies for £5.2 billion yet after the first months trading they were suddenly worth £6.5 billion - a loss to the taxpayer of £1.3 billion.

The government also agreed to allow the newly privatised companies to claim tax allowances on the money invested when the industry was publicly owned. As a result, the companies have paid no mainstream corporation tax since privatisation.

When they receive this letter from John Major, I would ask the people of Bolton West to think long and hard about what this money could have funded.

If this government gets re-elected next year, they will privatise our Post Office. Are we really prepared to let them waste billions of taxpayers' money again?

Marc Schmid

Old Vicarage Mews

Daisy Hill, Westhoughton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.