AT long last the Lib Dem/Con lie/myth balloon seems to have been burst.

According to independent research (reported in The Observer, November 16) carried out by the London School of Economics and the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, claims by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that we are “all in this together” and that the burden of austerity was being shared equally have been proved wrong.

Changes to the benefits system and income tax have switched income from the poorer half of households to most of the richer half.

Around 25 per cent of the lowest paid workers in of the country have lost more than five per cent of what they would have had before Lib Dem/Con government came into being in 2010.

The Tories and Lib Dems have harped on for over four years about the alleged appalling mess that the last Labour government left the country’s finances in, but they also admit in private and unguarded moments that what caused the financial collapse was a major meltdown in the banking and property systems that began in America.

The electorate need to bear this in mind before casting their vote next May. Use your vote wisely and conscientiously is my advice.

Howard Perry, St James Place, Dringhouses, York.