SIR – National debt stands at £2.5 trillion, a similar level to our GDP, and costs £85 billion a year in interest payments. Unfunded public-sector pension liabilities stand at around £2.6 trillion (report, November 21), yet government spending continues at eye-watering levels.
So much for the Chancellor’s sudden “fiscal headroom”. We are living on unaffordable borrowings, and setting a woeful example for future generations.
David Hutchinson
Nutley, East Sussex
SIR – I hope the Chancellor will be wise enough to adjust inheritance tax in the Autumn Statement (Letters, November 20), not by reducing the percentage taken, but by modestly raising the nil-rate band, thus increasing the amount which can be passed on free from tax.
This measure would be inclusive, not exclusive, and would protect the many who are far from wealthy but are increasingly subject to paying this iniquitous tax because of property price rises.
Christopher Rose
Leiston, Suffolk
SIR – Andrew Cook (Letters, November 19) states that many of the bereaved families he meets are more distressed by seeing their parents’ savings swallowed up in care home fees than by paying inheritance tax.
As a result of illness, my husband requires 24-hour care. Under the current system, we are expected to meet the full cost of his essential care using our savings.
We are then taxed at 20 per cent on the savings we withdraw – an additional £17,000-a-year bill. Tax relief on savings withdrawn to meet care needs would be compassionate, and would potentially benefit many more than the 4 per cent of families who would gain from inheritance tax reform.
Linda Jordan
Stourbridge, Worcestershire
SIR – I have been dismayed by the number of Conservative supporters who have renounced the party on your Letters page (November 20).
As the son of a Welsh coal miner I was brought up on the socialist creed. I cooled when Labour cosied up to the unions, which systematically destroyed our ship-building, car-making, aircraft, textile, mining and iron and steel industries, aided by incompetent industrial management.
My damascene moment came in 1970 when Vic Feather, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, told the workers at a Ford factory that his job was done when the employees drove away from work in the same car as the bosses. Mr Feather was then chauffeured off in his Rover.
I have remained loyal to the Conservative Party since then, because other political groups do not have the same principles as me. Loyalty works both ways, through thick and thin.
Brian Farmer
Braintree, Essex
