Not all rosy (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Not all rosy

I READ with interest Keith Ratcliffe's letter (EA, February 22) about the rapid growth of employment in Swindon during the 1980s, and he also made a reference about a sensible MP that was living locally.

Well, I too recall living in Swindon in the 1980s, when I left school and immediately became a statistic on the unemployment figures, along with my sister and my father, who up to 1983, had never been unemployed before.

I also recall that in 1986 Swindon Rail Works, which had once employed 14,000 people, closed down due to lack of government support.

And as for a sensible MP living locally, I had the misfortune of having to deal with the Conservative MP who represented Swindon.

D CAMBURN

Toothill, Swindon