A mother has issued a challenge to Prime Minister Tony Blair after her pleas for his help to save a project for disabled people in Oxford were ignored.

Chris Kyle, from Abingdon, wants Government funding to give the Pathway Workshop in Blackbird Leys a secure future.

But since writing the first of three letters to the Mr Blair in October last year, she has had four replies - to tell her that the letters had been forwarded to three other government departments.

Now Mrs Kyle has invited the Prime Minister to talk to her direct about the Workshop, where her son Andy has a full-time job.

Mrs Kyle said she was disappointed that her pleas had not been responded to: "If it's an indication of how they run the country, it's pretty poor. They can't even read your letter properly to give you a proper reply."

Andrew Smith, who is hoping to be re-elected as Labour MP for Oxford East in the General Election next week, is honorary president of the Pathway Workshop.

A spokesman for his office said last night that Mr Smith suports the bid for Government funding, adding: "Andrew also recently wrote to Oxfordshire County Council to ask if they could provide financial support.

The spokesman said Mr Smith would "insist that a Government Minister visited Pathway."

Mrs Kyle first wrote to the Prime Minister when the workshop, in Dunnock Way, faced closure last October after an application for Government funding of £90,000 was refused.

Mrs Kyle's 21-year-old-son is one of 20 people with learning difficulties and disabilities employed there to make garden products and furniture from waste timber.

She said: "Andy's got a future. He's got a life because he's got a proper job like everybody else. He's come on on so much in his own development."

She believes the workshop is a project the Government could learn from: "It might be a good model that they might roll out elsewhere."

The workshop has stayed open since October thanks to people and groups who responded to a countywide appeal for help, but its future is not secure.

Jenny O'Loughlin, office manager at the workshop, said: "We are a bit more stable than we were in October when we were in dire straits.

But, she added: "We are not out of the woods yet. What we should really have is some sort of Government funding."

A Labour Party spokesman insisted the Prime Minister's office had responded to the matter properly. The letters were forwarded to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) as it has responsibility for both employment and disabilities.