I wonder if Chris Loder will apologise to his constituents for his enthusiastic support for Liz Truss, a politician who by common consent was a failure in all her ministerial posts including the latest one.

We now know that her policy of tax cuts for the rich triggered a financial crisis which was self-inflicted by a leader who sacked the experienced civil servant in charge of the Treasury and chose not to take the advice of the Office of Budget Responsibility.

Will he apologise to our grandchildren who will have to pay for the massive government borrowing which has resulted?

Will he apologise to users of public services which face further cuts – NHS, dentistry, schools and social care? Did he not notice that the leader of Dorset Council was recently pleading for more money for social care?

Will he apologise to the families reliant on benefits who face a further squeeze on top of the cost-of-living crisis? What can he say to those whose house sales collapsed or whose mortgage offer has been withdrawn?

Tax cuts were supposed to deliver economic growth. The UK is the ONLY one of the G7 counties whose economy is not growing. Trade deals would aid economic growth but as a Brexiteer, Mr Loder threw away the best trade deal we had - with the countries in the EU. As it stands, because of the governments’s threat to break international law regarding the Northern Ireland protocol, the US will not be signing a trade deal with us.

So far, Mr Loder has given no response in his column. I would suggest an apology is in order. In addition, we need a recognition from him and his fellow Tories that a further round of austerity via cuts to public services will fail just as it did in 2010.

Barry Bates

West Allington