Letter: Welfare bonfire

Sir: It beggars belief - a Labour prime minister pushing through a Welfare Reform Bill that was rejected as being too extreme by the Tories and a Labour government offering backroom deals with Conservatives in the Lords to help the Bill's passage.

Strange when the rich are getting richer and the Treasury chest is larger than ever the only solution to helping those severely disabled at birth is to take money from the severely disabled who were once in work and able to pay National Insurance contributions and have an occupational pension.

If this Bill is a flagship of New Labour I'm all for jumping ship, and I won't buy a ticket for this trip again.

R BURTON

Liverpool