I AM glad that Mr Lock in his Letter from Westminster of July 20 refers to the difference between "substance" and "spin".
He then proceeds to make various statements which he considers to be "substance", but prove to be "spin" - "9,000 extra police officers."
Jack Straw made the same mistake when he said 5,000 extra police officers, but actually meant the number to replace the officers who had left the force since this Government had been in office.
I don't know how Mr Lock defines the word "annual". My dictionary says "recurring yearly". He says the previous Government incurred each year a £28 billion deficit which as Del Boy would say is telling "porkies".
On transport he describes a "whopping 20 per cent per year for the next three years". This is part of John Prescott's £180 billion 10-year plan. No mention that more than 32 per cent of this figure the Government hopes to raise from the private sector rather than public funds.
The one item that millions of voters wanted to hear about - what cash for the pensioners? But, of course, not a murmer.
GEORGE TYERS
Byron Road, Harpenden
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