I have read the letter Is he a hero or zero?' by Harold Trace and must point out that in 1997 Gordon Brown decided to take the business rate from local council to fill his central pot.

So far, rate support grant has been far less than the business rate, which is just one of the reasons for the increase in council tax in Spelthorne since then.

Rob Peter in the south to pay Paul in the north has been standard policy.

We were told it has nothing to do with voting patterns.

The rest of the letter tries to convince the local voter at the election in May 2007 that although New Labour have been in power for 10 years it is not their fault Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals' NHS Trust is in such a mess.

I can only add pull the other leg it has bells on.

It is not always what you do, it's the way you do it that gets results and the £800million spent on NHS consultants in 2006 alone by New Labour is what got the NHS into financial trouble.

David Wilshire MP obtained over 10,000 signatures against 200 who had opted for the current system.

Is it not time Harold admitted the truth and got their candles out again, or at least signed the petition against losing Ashford Hospital, which is on the Government petition website, as I have.

COUN JACK PINKERTON Stanwell North ward