IN reply to the Conservative Party-supporting correspondent, who branded the likes of me as extreme left-wing, a few points that may be food for thought.

I argued for social fairness and justice and my original letter praised the previous Tory MP for Bolton NE and then followed by Labour. The party that has form at making life so much harder for those not born into the establishment so favoured by the Tories -'right' parents/ income and profession, then automatic access to the most expensive private schooling, followed by Oxford or Cambridge University - is most certainly the Tory Party and who was it who branded her own party as 'The Nasty Party'? - none other than Mrs Theresa May.

I suspect that her Anglican Church upbringing has resulted in a dilemma - implementing harsh polices that hurt real people who cannot defend themselves, yet wanting to honour her father and her Christian upbringing. Margaret Hilda Thatcher declared that 'there's no such thing as society'. She also disgracefully branded the decent hard-working miners as 'the enemy within' and gave her police force a 25% pay rise to keep them motivated to put the miners in their place.

The grocer's daughter had clear anti-social behaviour problems that has made the Tory Party permanently toxic in the eyes of many. For example, in the Ribble Valley in the last couple of years the rural bus services have been severely axed due to Lancashire CC having to carry out the orders to strip around £300m from the budget. Some residents had to go without the several times a day bus linking them with Clitheroe. I can hear George Osborne stating that that is what taxis are for. With a bit of budgeting, the £10 or so each way trip to the shops or doctors is not a problem. I bet he spends more than £20 on a bottle of decent red wine at one of his dinner parties.

Your correspondent might also like to know about a conversation with a lady who told me how she worked at Remploy for 25 years, which Cameron and Osborne axed as we cannot afford such expenditure - but £60bn on a new high speed train line and £12bn on extravagant overseas aid is wise spending. She felt dejected and despairing, she missed the routine of the work and has had none for three years now, but was expected by the Tories to find another quickly or face punishment 'sanctions.' This party of spoilt rich kids playing at power had taken away her dignity. This is the hallmark of a toxic political mentality and defending such distasteful government policies is defending the indefensible.

Simon Pearce

Bromley Cross