I FELT compelled to write to ask ( Families face housing wait , November 26) what on earth possessed both families, who are already living in cramped conditions, to have more children? Mr Hampton and his partner, who already lived in a two-bedroom house,

I FELT compelled to write to ask ("Families face housing wait", November 26) what on earth possessed both families, who are already living in cramped conditions, to have more children?

Mr Hampton and his partner, who already lived in a two-bedroom house, decided to add to their family - twice. Did they not do their maths beforehand?

And Mr Murgatroyd cannot work because of curvature of the spine. They too live in a two-bedroomed house, but still they added to their family.

I cannot help feeling that the reason behind both parties having more children was simply because they thought it would move them up the housing ladder. Why else would anybody add to their family in these situations? With all the pregnancy precautions available today, I can hardly believe that they were unplanned. Surely I'm not alone in thinking this?

I'm sure Mr Murgatroyd would tell me that he would love to be able to go out to work to provide for his family, and I sympathise with his disability. But the truth of the matter is he cannot, so therefore he shouldn't have had any more children while living where he does. Both families knew the situation beforehand, so they cannot complain about it now.

My husband and I would like nothing more than to have more children, but we simply cannot afford them. Why is that? It's because we are already paying copious amounts of tax to fund other people's irresponsible actions like the above. Children should be born out of love and not for financial benefit, housing or otherwise.

My husband and I both left school with limited qualifications. We both work all the hours God sends. We have two children, we don't get tax credits, we don't get our Council Tax paid for us. We are not rich and I'll be the first to admit the bank account isn't always in the black at the end of each month, so we know that to have another child would stretch us too much. It s a personal choice, but we simply cannot afford more children.

This Government punishes the working class, (we're working 80-plus hours a week to be able to afford to live, as well as paying taxes to support people like the above) and I am sick of hearing them whinge about how hard it is for them.

They should try getting up at 4am to go to work for almost nothing. In the current climate life is tough and there will be many more genuine cases where people find themselves out of work, homes repossessed etc and, who knows, unfortunately I might one day find myself in that situation too. But will I be adding to my brood? I think not.

Mrs LISA BASS

Mere Close

Ramsey Mereside