Healey's record
Sir: While I applaud Mr Congdon's aim in wishing to see a reduction in the Govern ment's borrowing requirements (8 September), I think that he is mistaken in believing that any worthwhile progress was made by Mr Healey in this direction. Under IMF pressure Mr Healey did truly make some contribution but he promptly' threw this away when he coupled tax concessions with resistance to wage demands in later budgets. The figures quoted by Mr Congdon would be impressive if they were Central Statistical Office figures and not estimates, based on a concept of constant employment, of one of many experts. The CSO figure for government borrowing in 1975 was £10.5 billion. This was more than twice what it had been on average in the two preceding years, It fell to £9.1 billion in 1976, to £6.0 billion in 1977 and was up again to £8.3 billion in 1978 and rising. Mr Congdon's figures were £5.7 billion for 1975 and a surplus of £1.1 billion for 1977. W. B. Fairweather 8 West Grove Avenue, Dundee
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