It is pretty clear that the unprecedented spate of redundancies at the Cowley car plant reveals unpalatable truths about British employment laws.

Most of those who have lost their jobs at such short notice are left without redundancy pay.

These are not just unemployment statistics, but real people with mortgages to pay and families to support.

There could be no clearer illustration that the economic crisis – to which the Government’s response has been so inadequate – is hitting Oxford as badly as anywhere in the country.

In response, Andrew Smith MP has been calling for “a co-ordinated response locally” to help those who have lost jobs.

Might I suggest he starts by having a word with his Labour colleagues on Oxford City Council, who have just nodded through a budget with council tax increases substantially over the rate of inflation for the next three years.

Arranging a hike in that hugely unfair tax is no way to help those who are struggling in the worst economic crisis for generations.

Labour should be ashamed of itself.

STEVE GODDARD, Parliamentary Candidate, Oxford East Liberal Democrats