NEARLY two years since the election of a Tory Government, it appears they are letting this country slide into a state of rack and ruin.

The Press (February 16) states that “Four million more are just managing”. In the report it is stated that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that due to increases in the cost of living and the freezing of tax credits and working age benefits, that a significant number of people (four million) are on the verge of tipping into poverty.

In the same edition of The Press, Age UK are reported as having found in a recent study that many elderly people are at risk with “more than 200,000 people across England thought to receive no help with bathing, despite needing it, while more than 400,000 get no help with dressing”.

The report continues: “Almost 2.3 million people aged over 65 have difficulty with at least one activity of daily living, but 1.2 million do not receive the support they need”.

It warns that if this is allowed to continue “it would threaten the health and even the lives of the older people affected”.

The Government’s answer to this is to push the majority (if not all) of social care provision onto local government at the same time as making huge reductions in their budgets.

It seems that if you are rich and can afford private healthcare you’re okay, but if you’re poor then you’re up the river without a paddle or even a life jacket.

So much for caring conservatism.

Howard Perry, St James Place, Dringhouses, York