IF I had said the loss of Norwich Union jobs would benefit York - as Frank Ormston claims (Letters, December 13) - I should understand why there was concern in York. But I didn't.

According to Parliament's official record, I said: "I regret the loss of financial services jobs, whether those jobs are lost in my constituency - where, following the recent announcement by Norwich Union, the number of redundancies will thankfully be few - or elsewhere in the UK.

"I want the financial services industry to minimise the number of redundancies and retrain and redeploy the maximum number of staff."

But I also warned that "wringing our hands and blaming the companies, or the Government," as Frank Ormston does, "will not help the workers".

History is littered with examples of British business collapsing in the face of foreign competition with the loss of thousands of jobs - motorcycles, shipbuilding, textiles, steel etc.

If you ignore the competition you go under. If you adapt you survive, and I want Norwich Union to survive.

Frank Ormston condemns the company for "profit-driven job slashing". He has forgotten that Norwich Union has brought hundreds of jobs to York because it is profitable.

He didn't complain then.

Failing companies put more jobs at risk than successful ones.

Hugh Bayley MP,

Holgate Road, York.

Updated: 10:03 Friday, December 19, 2003