SIR - I agree with Nigel Shaw's criticisms of MP Gerry Sutcliffe and his outburst against the salaries paid to top footballers (T&A, November 8).

Coming from a man who has loyally supported his political masters over the past ten years, whose policies have created a gap between rich and poor in the UK wider than for 40 years, Sutcliffe is clearly engaging in cheap politics.

Premiership footballers are easy targets and many are overpaid, but so are many in the word of business, industry, commerce, the civil service and some MPs as well.

Meanwhile the government he continues to support has for the past three years been cutting benefits paid to the sick by summoning claimants to a medical examination based on a points system that is fundamentally flawed, with many losing their incapacity benefit when they are then urged to claim Jobseeker's Allowance, which is around £20 a week less.

I know this only too well as I've been a victim of these government cutbacks twice in the space of 15 months, and I am a properly-diagnosed ME sufferer.

If Sutcliffe wants to seek out real "obscenity" he should start by examining the conscience and priorities of his own party.

Alan O'Day Scott, Gaythorne Road, West Bowling