Letter to the Editor: I’m compelled to respond to Patrick Loxdale (Letters, Cambrian News, 30 November), which is replete with self-serving misrepresentations, including the bizarre assertion that socialism “is all about pulling the ladder up behind you” and other ludicrous claims about trickle down economics and the funding of public services.

Accusing socialists of pulling up ladders is risible in comparison to the Tory sleaze and corruption exposed in the PPE scandal, for example.

He accuses “the Left” of shouting to stifle debate and I would like to remind him of the Conservative government’s record on public debate — proroguing Parliament, failing to attend committees, outright lying and, famously, hiding in a fridge.

Of course, as chair of Ceredigion Conservative Association, I would not expect a balanced argument from him, but as a retired surgeon I would have hoped for greater precision.

Bringing up Ed Milliband’s comments on the NHS from 2015 seems wholly irrelevant in the context of 12 years of Tory austerity measures masquerading as fiscal prudence.

I too worked for the NHS, as a mental health nurse, and witnessed the harm to health and wellbeing caused by inequality and social deprivation. As Mr Loxdale says, “the chickens have come home; they always do” — unfortunately, the Tory fox is in the hen house. He always is.

David Reader

Pwllheli