SIR – Stories of a 40-year gap of rich and poor doesn’t look good for the Labour Party, who say they are helping the poor get out of the poverty trap.

It seems many working class people, and those on council estates up and down the country, are well below the poverty line and thousands of pounds in debt.

Many people perhaps are doing without food to pay for the bills, so a forecasted ten per cent increase in food prices and the 17.5 per cent VAT hike will push more people further into debt and possibly to the edge.

It would seem no matter what political party the voters put in to Government, the big failure is to look after those people on or below the poverty line or low incomes, and the failure to invest in new jobs and business to deprived area in northern towns and cities instead of the south.

Just look at the Westfield site – or should that be Wastefield? Bradford will become a ghost town while people will move away for jobs and a better way of life. More unemployment will make it hard to live if the cost of living increases.

Martin Palliser, Waincliffe House, Laisterdyke