PETER Jarrett's letter about the economy was all doom and gloom and mostly wrong.

He claims that under Labour this country has lost an average of 300 jobs each day from manufacturing industry. He must get his "facts" from a parallel universe! The Conservatives were the real experts at throwing away jobs. In the seven years from 1990 to 1996, an average of 235 jobs were lost each day from manufacturing.

Between 1997 and 1999, under Labour, the figure has come down to 162.

The compensation now is that is that there are 1.2m more jobs in total than in the last year of the Conservatives.

The loss of jobs in manufacturing has been more than compensated for by increases in productivity. In 1992, manufacturing industry produced £60bn worth of goods. By 1998 this had gone up to £84bn, at 1992 prices.

Peter Jarrett is right when he says that our exporters are finding life difficult because of the high pound.

But the value of the pound is now on its way down, and our exports will start to boom. Then he will have to find a different tune to sing.

Neil Holmes,

Rockhill,

Bromsgrove.