15th May 2007 

Read Cllr Philip Booth's letter to The Citizen re Tony Blair.

Parmjit Dhanda MP article claims the Blair years have led to a fairer Britain (Citizen 14/05/07). Indeed Labour's record on poverty bears no comparison with the woeful regimes of Thatcher and Major: a fifth of us now live below the poverty line compared to almost a quarter in 1997.

However society is now more unequal than at any time since the 1930s. Not only is the gap between the rich and poor ever more evident, but the gap between the middle class and super-rich is huge. This new class of "mega rich", have been given unprecedented power and access to government.

Labour have failed even to accept that excessive wealth is a problem, yet we know that fairer societies are better for all with reduced crime rates, better health and more. However neither this nor Iraq, which was, and still is, a travesty, will be remembered as his biggest failure as some have suggested to this paper. Nor the disastrous privatisation of our public services, the encroaching curbs on our civil liberties nor Tridents' renewal.

The effects of our inaction on climate change will be felt for millennia to come. We have seen 10 years of rising emissions: a decade of failure on climate change. Labour's £30 billion road building and doubling of aviation plans make a mockery of his statements about taking climate change seriously. We must ensure his successor does much better.

Cllr. Philip Booth, Stroud District Green Party.