Little sign of the gloom

He tries to paint a grim picture of the UK under the Conservative Government. He must have missed the Echo piece on the £1.5billion investment in Sunderland since 2010.

This is a mix of millions in Government funding and private sector funding released through confidence in the UK’s economy. Business would not invest at this level of the economy was failing.

His bad timing continues. On the day his letter was published it was announced that the UK services sector grew at a fastest pace for more than a year.

This was not the end either. Figures released on January 4 showed UK manufacturing is growing at its strongest rate for two-and-a-half-years.

To reinforce his gloomy letter, he claims the region will lose £800million when we leave the EU. This is an unsubstantiated figure. However, the Government has said that any “lost funding” will be replaced when our far greater contributions to the EU are halted.

Peter O’Connor