I CAN'T believe the barefaced cheek of the Darwen Tory general election candidate in his letter (LET, December 16) titled 'Tories would be tough on burglars'.

The Tories, if elected, have already committed to cutting £1.6billion from the Home Office budget -- which means cuts in police numbers and their resources.

When Michael Howard, the Tory leader, was Home Secretary he promised £5,000 more police, but we ended up with police numbers declining by 1,132 officers.

Under the last Tory government crime doubled.

Since the Labour government was elected in 1997, England and Wales has seen overall crime reduce by 30 per cent, and the chance of being a victim of crime is now at its lowest in 20 years.

Labour have also introduced Anti Social Behaviour Orders to help tackle what's termed low level crime which has blighted many of our communities.

Labour are helping create strong and safe communities -- let's not let the Tories wreck it again.

Coun MOIRA BARRETT, Anchor Avenue, Darwen.