IN response to your front page headline ‘40 per cent of women paid below living wage’ dated April 3.

Is it any wonder my beloved town has been on a gradual decline for more than 30 years. Lack of investment is not a recent event brought about by economic collapse under Labour.

True it was the failure of all western economies to properly control the banking industry but the last Labour government never heeded the warning of banking sector whistleblowers or economists but rode the crest of the wave in pure self indulgent ignorance until the wave of debt crashed upon us.

So we have an acknowledgment from Andy Burnham, Labour MP, that Leigh is an economic blackspot, we are below the national average and our workers are more likely to be on the minimum wage. The minimum wage incidentally that Tony Blair brought into being and was so low that it did more harm than good.

The number of jobs in this town have been on the decline for decades. As the factories, pits and mills disappeared, our Labour councillors were woefully found wanting in any form of incentives, great schemes or any plans to attract outward investment. They let us down only to be re-elected to their safe Labour seats.

We don’t need Andy Burnham to tell us we are in a hole for he and his acolytes put us there. It is also time that Leigh managed its own affairs and we got out of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough. Wigan has been regenerated enough at our expense.

KIERAN MOFFATT
Leigh