CHRIS Leslie, who boasts "it's easy to make a list of coalition damaging choices", might have more credibility if he also listed Labour's damaging choices. Near the top would be the choice to go on a spending splurge resulting in a deficit of around £150 billion.

What Labour apologists ignore is that this deficit is not a one-off but a recurring annual figure, which increases the national debt. It seems Labour would accept this deficit in 2010 before reducing it by half over the next four years.

So in 2010 around £150 billion of unfunded deficit would be added to our debt. Then, for each year until 2014, the deficit would reduce by £18.75 billion (£150 billion halved and divided by four years) so would be £131.25 billion in 2011, £112.50 billion in 2012, £93.75 billion in 2013 and £75 billion in 2014.

Thus, adding those deficit figures together, Labour would increase our national debt by £562.50 billion.

After that the annual increase would be £75 billion. That debt would be financed by borrowing, which even at current levels costs us £45 billion a year in interest.

That, rather than what Mr Leslie calls "the ideological desire to shrink the public sector", is why the coalition has to make drastic cuts.

DOROTHY WILSON Main Street Willoughby-on-the-Wolds