From Isaac Farnbank, Niton:

Mr Critchley’s misinformed letter was another vindication of Labour’s incompetence (CP, letters 01-02-19).

Firstly, he accuses the Conservative government of living in a fantasy world. Unoriginal. Bland. Unrealistic.

If Mr Critchley wants to see a fantasy world, he should look to his own party. Which is a party harking back to a 75-year-old broken social experiment.

A party so desperate it uses lies, fantasy figures to articulate a false image as the perfect alternative.

He speaks in apocalyptic terms about austerity and tries to use the emotions to overcome common sense and pragmatism. In the knowledge that through rational, frank and honest debate the Labour Party in its present, circa 1983, form will never honourably win a General Election or the political debate, Labour has turned to political auto-pilot  Gordon Brown has described this as being ‘stuck in the first phase of reforming-returning to founding principles’.

It’s a simple home truth that had Labour not grotesquely overspent and instead, actually implemented sensible, pragmatic, rational economic management, and spared the country from the biggest peacetime deficit, the Conservatives wouldn’t have had to introduce austerity.

Irony of irony, though, must be Mr Critchley’s laughable attempt to use tax against the Conservatives.

After hearing 34 unfunded spending pledges from the Labour Party, I, nor any other Conservative, will abide listening to lecture on taxation from Labour.

He seems surprised the Conservatives are not ashamed of our record — unemployment at a 40-year low, reduced the deficit by two-thirds, secured over £175 billion in tax, increased the National Living Wage, I can go on and on.

His last whimper, ‘Tory Incompetence’ will ‘go down badly with Islanders’ is a sly message that Mr Critchley believes Labour are home and dry in the upcoming local elections.