CONSERVATIVE Party candidate for York Clive Booth must have been out of circulation for the past decade or so because I've got news for him ("Tories bank on Portillo moment," October 11). It's very poignant that he should mention Don Miguel Portillo because York has already had a Portillo moment.

It came on January 17, 1989 when, as the minister for public transport, he privatised British Rail Engineering Limited, putting over 8,000 jobs at risk in Derby, Crewe and, of course, York.

Mr Booth cannot have been up Poppy Road for some years as he would have perhaps noticed that the carriageworks has gone, along with 3,000 jobs, thanks to his party starving the industry of cash to build new rolling stock.

Still we must be positive about this, Britain's loss is Europe's gain!

Another Portillo moment is recorded in Hansard: "A contract can only be subject to a renegotiation: it cannot be subject to unilateral abrogation on the part of the management". Management did just this, they took our rightful rail passes from us on redundancy and your party stood by and true to form did absolutely nothing (as have Labour I must admit).

If Mr Booth did get in would he re-instate to hundreds of York ex-workers, their wives and dependants their rightful free rail travel, plus of course compensation for loss of same for ten years?

Can pensioners also be compensated for being £30 a week worse off - the 1980 link to inflation rather than wages?

Let's not forget the infamous 1995 work test you introduced which hit disabled people hard.

It will take more than 10,000 leaflets to erase the damage done by the Tories in York. When Mr Booth alludes to underdogs winning I assume he means coming fourth behind UKIP.

William Moore,

Lochrin Place, York.

Updated: 09:38 Thursday, October 14, 2004