What a great seven days last week was as regards Labour's plan for change.

First, we had Confirmation of 500,000 vital NHS appointments and operations were saved by ending strikes after the Election.

Second, it was revealed that 24,000 people have been returned with no right to be here since the General Election (including 3,500 criminals).

Third, we saw a £302 million cash injection to fix further education colleges.

Fourth, an Extra £617 million was announced over two years for community pharmacies.

Fifth, 1,000 flood defence projects were announced protecting 66,500 properties.

Sixth, we saw a £470 increase in state pension for millions of pensioners.

Seventh, the first 300 new school-based nurseries was announced.

And eighth, Three million workers got a pay rise through increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage.

Promises made by Labour and Promises kept by Labour.

Geoffrey Brooking

Via Email

G. Brooking recently congratulated Rachel Reeves on her “first class Spring statement”. Has he not read in the Gazette that 25,000 elderly people in South Devon and South West Devon didn’t receive their Winter Fuel Payment? Reeves already has blood on her hands.

And as for her next trump card , the attack on disability benefits. I trust Mr Brooking noticed the major protests across the country, including Exeter. One leader called it “an assault on the dignity of disabled people”. Political analysts warn it’ll take “a miracle” for Reeves not to raise taxes this autumn. Another broken promise? Oh well.

Mr Brooking also claims Labour will deliver 1.5 million new homes. On Radio 4 this week: “Yes, they’re planned, but now they need to build them.” Meanwhile, wildlife groups are alarmed by changes to planning law (page 9).

As for Ms Reeves’ name, the biblical Ruth was a widowed refugee who married a Jewish landowner. At their betrothal, the elders of Bethlehem said: “May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended” (Ruth 4:11). Reeves, by contrast, seems intent on uprooting the most vulnerable.

Water rates: I live in a bedsit, don’t shower daily, and reuse washing-up water on the garden. Yet SWW have increased my estimated bill by £190.90 to £508.60, while writing that they’re “committed to keeping your bills as LOW as possible”. Many are frightened, and many now bitterly regret voting Labour (to oust Sunak). Too late, you short-sighted people!

On tax avoidance, Reeves has thrown out the baby with the bathwater. This week we learnt how many millionaires and billionaires have now left the country.

Defence spending may be necessary, but funding it by slashing international aid is appalling. Reeves has dropped it to around 0.43 per cent, far below the original 0.7 per cent agreed by all parties. More blood on her hands. I remember weeping when I learnt 63 aid agencies had to close due to Trump. I emailed Reeves and Starmer: reinstate aid now, it’s the only morally right thing to do.

Meanwhile, on the front page of the Gazette we see Daphne the pygmy goat at Pennywell Farm and an article reminding us Marie Curie relies on public donations. Last year they cared for 40,000 terminally ill people, including my twin’s husband and my sister.

Also, a moving tribute to Eddie Farwell, co-founder of Children’s Hospice South West. Fundraisers for CHSW and Rowcroft are all around us. So when an MP claims “palliative care is all on the NHS”, read on.

To Mr Denman (April 3): your Totnes rant and tattoo jibes won’t help the property market, which I hear is booming again. At Tanpits, I chatted to a workman with a tattooed arm, the names of his seven children. “Married at 17, started young,” he smiled. Delightful!

Yes, I loved the Grand National on the radio, but was devastated to hear Celebre D’Allen died, pushed beyond his limits. Once again, fame and gain have trumped a precious life.

Give us a wave on our Good Friday Walk of Witness, we leave the Methodist Church at 11am and arrive at the Bandstand for worship at noon.

On Radio 4's Today in Parliament (April 8), two MPs raised the urgent persecution of Christians, now affecting 650 million people globally, according to Open Doors.

How blessed we are to walk and worship in freedom.

Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!

Ruth Brooking

Kingsbridge

A provincial newspaper records local events. The Totnes Times does a good job of that. Long may it flourish. But reading a local newspaper can reveal national issues.

In the April 10 edition, we find that two Devonport based Royal Navy ships are off to Brazil. Denuding this country of its capacity to launch amphibious operations and undermining the defence of the realm.

But Devon council has money to provide ‘welcome packs’ for ‘asylum seekers’. Perhaps we should have sold the RN ships to the people smugglers?

All while Devon’s top executive is pocketing a cool £200,000 a year (perhaps she could pay for the ‘welcome packs’), and several of her minions are trousering over £150,000. Bureaucrats often earn more than entrepreneurs in today’s UK.

The local constabulary can remind us of the main reasons for road crashes (all obvious to anyone with a brain cell), but, it seems, can’t solve more than 5% of surging residential burglaries.

Knife crime is increasing here, but no details of knifeman Mareez Bachu, given an indefinite sentence for attempted murder in Plymouth. Any previous, any details of his status in this country? The court didn’t think this was relevant for us plebs.

An upcoming talk at Follaton House will tell us why it’s necessary to lose 20% of our farmland for new homes (part of the welcome for those ‘asylum seekers’?) and ‘decarbonising’. Goodbye England’s ‘green and pleasant land’!

But on the letters page, we find readers dismissing Trump and the perpetual non-issue of proportional voting systems. Oh, and a long encomium/prose poem lauding the ‘Palestinian’ struggle and our local MP (half written with the caps lock on). From someone, I recall, who was once a councillor in Kingsbridge for Voaden’s party. But is too shy to mention it.

What strange days we live in!

T. Denman

Totnes

We now have South Hams District Council discriminating against people who do not have phones with Apps.

Why should local people pay more for an hour's parking just because they do not have a smart-phone ? To be fair they can now have half an hour free on top of the paid-for one hour but most people only want one hour's parking.

This idea has not been thought through thoroughly by the people who are supposed to be running our services. Perhaps it does not matter to the councillors from the wealthy areas like Salcombe and Dartmouth but 50 pence, yes, just fifty pence is a lot of money for people on tight budgets.

Very, very tight for some! Perhaps they don't care that this latest initiative will help to destroy Ivybridge town centre shops?

We have always been able to claim back 70p parking if shopping in the Co-op & spending over £15.

Please reconsider this latest idea.

Jill Barber

Former Ivybridge town councillor