SIR: The Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bolton SE certainly paints a pretty picture of the British economy (BEN, September 3). No wonder the BMW chairman is impressed with Britain as a place to produce cars. The Conservatives allowed him to buy the last great all-British car-producing company - Rover Cars - thus allowing him to control some of the "competition". Does he pay his British workforce German wages, or grant them the same conditions of service as in Germany, I wonder? The Conservatives, with their laissez-faire economic ideas, have allowed companies from all over the world to pick off major British companies and, now, even our utilities.

Why haven't Conservative governments pressurised our leading financial institutions to invest in Britain on a long-term basis, instead of investing abroad? Even our pensions go abroad.

Rather than create wealth and jobs for the majority of the British people, the Conservatives have destroyed jobs and divided Britain. More than four million people want full-time employment, but are denied it. One of Labour's key policies is to put 250,000 under-25-year-olds into jobs by attacking the obscene profits made by privatised utilities.

Cllr Brian Iddon

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Labour Party Bolton SE CLP

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