SO Shaun Woodward is setting up a trust to help the Ravenhead workers sacked in March?

Does he also plan to help those who lost their jobs as a result of policies inflicted on St Helens by the Tory Government that he supported from 1988 to 1999? The workforce of Sutton Manor, Bold and Parkside collieries would be interested in such a scheme.

The people of this town are not so easily swayed by the promise of hand-outs from Woodward and his media friends.

What they really want is job security, decent community schools and good hospitals.

He offers charity, not prospects. I am sure that the Ravenhead workers will be glad of any form of help and support, and I wish them well.

However, like the workers at Beechams and those facing further redundancies at Triplex, they are the victims of global capitalism, asset-strippers and the drive for greater profits. We will continue to lose jobs while this system exists.

New Labour and Woodward offer no alternative, simply more privatisation, lower pay and poorer working conditions.

Take your charity back to Oxfordshire, Mr Woodward. We do not need your media friends patronising the people of this town.

We will fight for a better system. It is called Socialism, and the people of Cuba have shown it can work.

Mike Perry, Socialist Labour Party, Prescot Road, St Helens.