Dear Editor

I read in the press that thousands of people all over the country turned out to see the 200 plus Boxing Day hunts. Fox hunting banned? I somehow don't think so. It has become clear that the law is unworkable and unenforceable and has, like so many other laws and decisions this government has taken, produced the opposite to what was intended. As I read about this failure, I realised how much this law and the sorry outcome has come to symbolise Tony Blair and the Labour government.

Much too can be said of the 24 hour drinking law, supposedly introduced to tackle the issue of binge drinking. Yet another failure, it has done as every professional said it would, that is to increase drinking so much that more than 20 children and teenagers are being treated in hospital every day for alcohol related illnesses including mental disorders poisoning and liver disease. These figures have been labelled as 'staggering' by some of Britain's leading doctors, with Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians saying, 'It’s only the tip of the iceberg'.

The Labour Government has increased the gap between rich and poor. A Labour Government, who, in the manifesto on which they were elected for a third term boasted about a world class public services, rapidly falling poverty and crime, and long term youth unemployment virtually eradicated thanks to there New Deal. Who are they kidding? National statistics show among 18 - 24 year olds the number out of work for more than 6 months is up 75 percent in the last 5 years. Despite claims to the contrary crime and anti-social behaviour is growing and violent crime has soared. This government has brought in more than 50 Home Office Bills. But 110 of the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2000 are still not in force. 17 were repealed before they ever came into force. And another 39 have been repealed subsequently.

So much for new laws! The failure of the fox hunting law clearly symbolises the symptomatic way that Labour runs this government all words no action. And there are so much more; Pensions, Council Tax the Iraq war, peerages for money, no border controls and illegal immigration running out of control.

Let 2007 be the year that we all hold this Government to account.

Esther McVey

Parliamentary Spokesperson
Wirral West Conservatives