I agree with some of Bill Yates's comments about the Labour Government's record (Oxford Mail, June 26).

He is right to lay most of the blame for the decline of our country at the door of Margaret Thatcher and her political savages.

But Labour has had 11 years to right the wrongs of 18 years of a right-wing Tory Government, the worst being the selling off of the NHS through PFI.

It has done little to prevent the slow privatisation of our health service.

Nevertheless, to Labour's credit, there have been some great steps forward in improving the conditions of working-class people.

These include the National Minimum Wage, the legal right to 28 days paid holiday, paid maternity leave of 39 weeks, equal pay, flexible working, high employment, the introduction of tax credits, free bus travel and the winter fuel allowance.

These are only examples of what Labour have introduced - there is much more.

There is much more Labour could do, but they need more time and support.

The Tories are never specific about their policies, but we can still hear the rumblings from within the Tory Party. Listen to their speeches and read their papers.

A report by the Economic Competitiveness Policy Group to the Shadow Cabinet, which forms Tory Party policy, states: "The more so-called employee protection you have in law, the fewer jobs there will be."

The report recommends the repeal of the working time directive, ending the entitlement to paid statutory holidays and rest breaks, reforming protection for part-time workers, reforming discrimination legislation and abolishing protection against unfair dismissal.

Is this what we want?

The Tory record says it all to me when they axed the wages councils, opposed the minimum wage, opposed increases to maternity and paternity leave and pay, left pensioners with £69 per week in 1997 and cut funding to schools and hospitals.

Such is the savagery of the Tory Party.

Ask yourself what else they are hiding from the electorate.

Yes, Labour have got a long way to go to regain the public's confidence, but don't let's forget what has been achieved.

Make no mistake, Cameron's lot will do nothing for the working class - the Tories never have.

DAVE ROBINSON Meaden Hill Headington Oxford