It is interesting to note, in John Prescott's parliamentary constituency of Hull East, there are many thousands of empty council houses which are being bulldozed or boarded up.

In the meantime, Mr Prescott has ordered many thousands of extra houses to be built in Sussex. Just what is going on?

According to the Government office for Yorkshire, Hull has had limited success in attracting key growth sectors.

Moreover, the economic problems of the city are compounded by high crime rates, low incomes and "exceptionally low educational achievement" (their words).

All of this in the deputy prime minister's own constituency. It seems Labour has no idea how to improve prospects even for its own voters and allows the population drift to escalate.

Britain is a very small country by any standards. Distances between regions are insignificant for most businesses. There is simply no need to concentrate so much of the population in the South-East for any logical economic reason.

It is about time the people and politicians of Hull and other places in the same situation took a long, hard look at their own towns.

Anyone seeking opportunities in the South-East is faced with high property prices made even worse by this Government's incompetent policies.

A vote for Labour will simply mean Sussex will become an endless vista of housing estates.

In a few short years, the "Crawley concept" will cover most of north Sussex. Of course, history repeats itself. The new town itself was the result of post-war Labour policy.

-Richard Dale, Friday Street, Warnham, Horsham