IN the run up to the 2010 election my partner and I attended a hustings debate at Lapford. After an evening of politic debate, much of it missing important issues such as care for older people, some of us adjourned to the Malt Scoop opposite. I distinctly remember Mel Stride stating that the Conservatives were determined to reduce the size of the state to no more than 35 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Tories were obviously going to use the Banking crisis as a means of reducing the size of the state regardless of what effect that this might have on society. I pointed out that even when Margaret Thatcher was in power she never reduced the size of the UK state below that of 42 per cent. If Mr Stride wishes to dispute this I have a witness who will substantiate my assertion. Five years have gone by and we have witnessed fewer than a half of the proposed cuts, many of which are for ideology reasons. Nobody disputes that there have had to be measures to reduce the deficit. However we have witnessed the closure of local hospitals and residential homes for the elderly along with youth clubs, libraries and other local services. Much of this by cutting too early and too fast, resulting in a loss of tax revenues. Rather than refocusing the UK economy as George Osborne asserts, we see little real increase in manufacturing, the 2014 UK balance of payments is at £74 billion (the second highest since World War Two) and the national debt has reached £1,480 trillion, a 40 per cent increase. These figures are supplied by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) and the Office for National Statistics. The last time that the national debt was partially repaid was between 1997 and 2001 when Gordon Brown was Chancellor. So the people of Britain have experienced an economy that has either reduced in size or flat-lined since 2010. It is only in the last year that the economy has grown (much of it by injudicious manipulation by George Osborne, ie the housing market in the South East, as well as a booming property market in London). A reduced state to 1930s levels will create a more unequal society, social mobility will continue to decrease and the gap between rich and poor will grow, as it has since the early 1980s. All this leads to a fractured society, typified by the growth of food banks and the stigmatising of the least fortunate and many young people in our society. So yes, the Church of England Bishops are absolutely correct in alerting voters about the growing gulf between rich and poor and the erosion of society that will inevitably follow. Justin Beament Down St Mary