SIR – When Disraeli said that there are lies, damned lies and statistics he could well have had Councillor Glen Miller in mind.

For it is he who has interpreted the fact that 20 per cent of Bradford’s working age population is economically inactive (T&A, December 9) as ‘a sad state of affairs’ by implying that every one of them is quite happy to stay at home living on benefits.

Quite how he reaches this conclusion is unclear because the October claimant count was around 17,500, or just 5.2 per cent.

His comments are an insult to the other 15 per cent – the 50,000 souls identified by the survey – who for a variety of reasons have made the decision to get by without paid employment or state benefits.

His opinion that all those not actively seeking work are workshy scroungers is rapidly losing its political force, not least because it runs counter to the wishes of many Conservatives.

They are the misty-eyed romantics who look back to a golden age when every household consisted of a father in full-time work and a mother happily staying at home with their children, and fondly expecting that David Cameron will work his magic to make it all happen again.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley