SIR – May I suggest to Councillor Taylor (Letters, May 24) that he, and not Mr Greenwood (Letters, May 1), needs to get his facts straight.

Yes, all bypass and relief roads were cancelled, but Chris Leslie gave a 30-minute speech to the minister in the House about the need for and benefits of the Bingley Relief Road, which resulted in it being reinstated and built, thanks to Mr Bingley, Chris Leslie.

The Conservatives think we have short memories. I may be a poor pensioner, but I have a good memory, I can remember the pound crashing out of the ERM and mortgage repayments at least doubling for 18 months thanks to Norman Lamont and his young sidekick George Osbourne. Yes, the same one.

What hope have we got? This fine country started going downhill when Thatcher sold everything that was not nailed down during the Eighties and blamed it on the unions.

I try to look forward, but at the moment I cannot. All I see is the steady downhill trend of this fine country.

At least since 1997 we had a fair and genuine government who tried to look after its people. All I can see now is the Tories will look after their own.

Malcolm Chapman, Westleigh, Bingley