OVER the years I have heard people say that they considered the Daily Echo to be biased in favour of the Conservatives. I have always refuted this view as I consider the Echo to be unbiased.

Over the past 31 years the Echo has published over 90 of my letters which have been mainly about politics, and no one could accuse me of being a Tory, for I consider myself a social democrat and have always voted Labour.

The letters in the Echo January 22 prove my point, for example those by W. Barker, John Chandler, D. R. Smith and, from another point of view, Dorothy Fudge.

When Labour took power in 1997 the problems they took on were great in the extreme. Over the Thatcher years British industry practically ceased to exist, leaving just the service industry in the main, and millions of unemployed industrial workers. This was followed by the John Major years and the selling-off of the British utilities which in my opinion was to the detriment of the British people.

Keeping the UK solvent without a sound industrial base was in my opinion a problem too great for any political party, and with the Labour party trying to do the decent thing and wanting to see all the British people maintain a reasonable standard of living simply proved too much.

Now we have had the Conservatives and Liberals for over three years, along with still high unemployment, food banks, people with great debt and great unrest in the populace at large.

Is the answer another political party, a coalition of decent, fair minded intelligent MPs?

Well perhaps, but if it is, it will take time after a long period of continuing austerity, in spite of the present government’s talk of economic recovery.

C E WATTS, Southampton