HARD-working taxpayers fund Mrs Murgatroyd s benefits (Letters, December 10) and are quite right to question where their money is going to and why she and her husband had more children when they clearly did not have adequate accommodation. Why should the

HARD-working taxpayers fund Mrs Murgatroyd's benefits (Letters, December 10) and are quite right to question where their money is going to and why she and her husband had more children when they clearly did not have adequate accommodation. Why should the state fund their personal choices when it does not do so for taxpayers?

State support should go to the ill and to disabled people who cannot work and need financial help.

I am assuming that Mrs Murgatroyd is not ill, and she certainly does not live in a remote area. Fenstanton is a thriving village with many small businesses. In recent months, jobs have been advertised in two pubs, the baker's, the post office and the Play Barn.

There is an excellent and regular bus service going to Bar Hill and St Ives, and again jobs in these two areas are advertised on a weekly basis.

If Mrs Murgatroyd "detests relying on state benefits and would work all the hours God sends," as she stated in her letter, I am sure she will soon find a local job without leaving the village before 4am.

Furthermore, she would be an excellent role model for her children, who would be brought up knowing that you progress in life through hard work.

Ms S MARTIN

Hemingford Road

St Ives

Editor's note: This correspondence is now closed.