Norman Lamb tries and fails to defend coalition

On January 11 he said that his coalition has protected funding for the NHS, claims that seem beyond belief to those 6,000 nursing staff and health visitor posts that have gone since the coalition conned their way in.

To many of us it seems that the government's priority is to fund highly paid NHS management roles off the official payroll so they can avoid paying their fair share of tax - a story excellently exposed in the local Eastern Daily Press.

The ordinary person on the street would surely see this as the wrong priority, especially at a time when ambulance staff are battling to serve our public in ageing vehicles while their trust managers consider which shiny executive cars to choose from the trust's budget.

To make matters worse Norman then tries to blame Labour for the current mess. This is despite the fact that in 13 years Labour borrowed just under £400 billion (excluding bank bailouts) while his oft praised coalition has borrowed a huge £300bn in just three years.

The real issue now facing this country is the current government's economic policies that wiped out the fresh shoots of recovery that began in late 2009 and plunged us into this lengthy period of recession, which at times sees just stagnation.

We know austerity isn't working. Only sustainable growth will save our country and so far this government has offered nothing on that subject.

Instead a contraction in the service sector in December 2012 has economists predicting we are on the brink of a triple-dip recession and the loss of our AAA credit rating.

Jo Rust

Secretary Norfolk North West Constituency Labour Party