Letter of the week: Hartlepool an 'easy target' for Skint Britain TV show

Frank Field MP described Universal Credit as “Wonderland visions of welfare reforms collapse on contact with real life”.
By Hart Letters
Published 1st Mar 2019, 11:56 BST
Updated 1st Mar 2019, 12:02 BST
An image from the second episode of Skint Britain in which a Hartlepool resident says he is going out to confront drug dealers.An image from the second episode of Skint Britain in which a Hartlepool resident says he is going out to confront drug dealers.
An image from the second episode of Skint Britain in which a Hartlepool resident says he is going out to confront drug dealers.

I think many Hartlepudlians would agree with that.

The Tories wanted to provide families with a minimum income, provide incentives to work, but also save money.

Unfortunately, the incentives and savings have taken priority over looking after people and, as a consequence, many of our family and friends are suffering badly.

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So it’s only right to highlight shambolic Government policy – but not at our expense.

Also read: What viewers thought of the final episode of Skint BritainThe Skint Britain programme would have struggled to make Hartlepool look any worse.

We want to encourage business and visitors to come here, to invest, to spend.

The programme did little to encourage that.

In fact, it did the opposite.

So if Mike Hill really believes that Skint Britain “has shades of poverty porn” (Mail, February 15), shouldn’t he be campaigning for the next two episodes to be pulled (I’m writing this after the first episode)?

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Last week's Letter of the week: Does Hartlepool really need 6,000 new homesOr is he really content to see our fine town undermined as long as it serves his political agenda by its attack on the Government?

These film makers tend to choose the Labour heartlands for these types of programme because they are easy targets.

Universal Credit has brought untold misery to many and it’s right that we highlight the Government’s incompetence.

Also read: The standout moments from the final episode of Skint BritainBut this kind of programme also shows that one party politics in an area like Hartlepool brings very little progress to a town.

Why?

Because Labour doesn’t have to do anything – it knows it will always win this seat.

Andy Hagon,

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Hartlepool,

Lynnfield Road,

Hartlepool.