Mr Farley (LT Letters April 11) claims Liberal Democrats in coalition have supported austerity, although he concedes that it was the Lib Dems who forced the Tories to raise income tax thresholds to over £10,000, taking millions out of the tax.
What we must remember is that the Brown/Blair Labour Government left enormous debts. These were mostly from their £100billion bailout of banks.
And people in Lancashire can never forget Blair’s war in Iraq. 179 British service men and women died, but the toll on (nearly all Muslim) Iraqi civilians was on an appalling scale – estimated between 134,000 and (the Lancet’s estimate) of 600,000.
Getting back to money, the Iraq war cost the UK nearly £10billion. Think how many NHS doctors and nurses could have been employed with that.
Only the Liberal Democrats, of the main parties, opposed the Iraqi war.
The coalition was a great challenge for the Liberal Democrats. They were junior partners but their insistence on the pupil premium and now free school meals for infants ensures that the most vulnerable were protected.
The Liberal Democrats provided stability at a time of financial crisis.
Sabir Rahman (via email)
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