MADAM – As a newcomer to the Stroud area, I have been struck by the continuous flow of pro-Labour letters in the SNJ, and in particular the support expressed for David Drew.

I find myself wondering how on earth Stroud could have a Conservative MP if the preponderance of anti-Tory rants in the letters page is an accurate reflection of the views of the Stroud electorate as a whole.

But then I remember Labour’s record in office over the past 40 years.

The last two Labour governments have all ended in economic disaster.

In 1976, the then Chancellor Denis Healey had to call in the IMF to bail out the economy and the government ended in chaos with the winter of discontent in 1979.

When, after 18 years of Tory rule, the British electorate finally gave Labour another chance it took a little longer for them to make a mess of the economy.

But they duly managed it and Labour were thrown out again in 2010 having racked up massive unsustainable debts.

There was the famous letter from an outgoing Labour minister in which he wrote to his successor ‘I am afraid there is no money’.

Perhaps the silent majority in Stroud who do not write to the SNJ, but who vote Conservative, understand only too well that Labour are economically illiterate and will always end up ruining the economy.

For all Mr Drew’s undoubted personal integrity and dedication, the sad fact of the matter is that he plays for the wrong team. A vote for Mr Drew is a vote for Ed Miliband to become PM and for many, that’s too awful to contemplate.

Charles Denny

Stonehouse