ANOTHER Gordon Brown Budget has come and gone. Chancellor Brown is very keen to convince us, and take the credit for, how well the British economy is doing.

Unfortunately, in truth he is little more than a bit player in the great Lib-Lab-Con to convince us all everything is fine and the only choice for us is to accept the forward march of globalisation.

Their collective fixation with free trade has led to a tragic loss of British jobs, from coal to fishing to shipbuilding, all gone, destroying our communities and our traditions. By last December one million workers in UK manufacturing industries had lost their jobs since Labour came to power.

In York, the carriageworks and Terry's are sympotmatic of this betrayal. So what future for Nestl?

After 50 years of Labour and Conservative rule we are left dependent on foreign-made goods. How many items in your home were made here?

Thousands of skilled workers in Clyde, Mersey and Tyneside shipyards have had their jobs exported to the Far East. How many remember the great British car and motor cycle companies such as Austin, Morris, BSA and Norton, all replaced by foreign goods from Kawasaki, Saab, BMW and the rest? Imported vehicles: exported jobs. A country that does not produce its own goods can quickly become nothing more than a nation of glorified pen-pushers.

As far as British manufacturing is concerned, I am reminded of Lewis Carroll: "Down, down, down, would the fall never come to an end".

Eric Wood,

Oakdale Road,

Clifton Moor, York.

Updated: 10:42 Saturday, March 19, 2005