I AM writing to welcome the latest Labour market statistics.

These figures contradict the gloom that the Tories have been spreading over the past few weeks.

They show the largest annual increase in employment since 1997, the highest number of people in employment, and a record number of vacancies.

These figures will no doubt come as a disappointment to the Tories.

Labour's record contrasts starkly with the record of high unemployment, and a welfare state that treated those out of work as statistics, to be hidden, rather than individuals to be helped.

The Tories would make the same mistake of putting tax cuts for the ultra-rich and uncosted promises ahead of the stability that creates jobs.

Their welfare plans are not focused on supporting people into work, but on chasing savings to meet their tax and spending black hole.

Labour has an excellent record on the economy. Let's not turn the clock back to when unemployment went over three million under the Tories and was excused as "a price worth paying", while David Cameron was a treasury adviser.

During this period, the number of people on incapacity benefit trebled.

In addition, there was more than 5.5 million people on out-of-work benefits, and one in three children in the country grew up in poverty.

Bolton deserves better than this. We need to make a stand and say "never again."

Cllr Jim Lord Farnworth