Sir – A big thank you to The Oxford Times and others for exposing the bad-apple MPs who have played the system on expenses.

But most MPs, including as far as I can see, both Oxford members, have not made outrageous expenses claims My advice to Parliament is to do what local councils do and let an outside body decide your pay and your expenses package. Of course MPs outside London, unlike councillors, need both a constituency base and somewhere to sleep near Westminster.

Nearly all councillors, of all parties, don’t fiddle their expenses. They are paid a reasonable amount for what they do. It is after all a privilege to represent your community and to have the chance to make Oxford a better place for us all.

But if we didn’t pay MPs a salary and councillors an allowance only the wealthy would ever be able to stand for election.

On Thursday, June 4, in Oxford we will all have three votes; two for the county council and one for a party in the European Parliament. It is hugely important that we all use those votes for candidates and parties we believe will honestly represent us.

The county council looks after schools, care for older people and mends the roads, so touches everyone’s life. The European Parliament decides everything from agency workers’ rights to cutting our carbon footprint to help tackle climate change.

We should not throw out the barrel just because there are some bad apples. It’s our job to elect honest, hard-working councillors and Members of the European Parliament who we can trust. That’s democracy.

John Tanner, Labour city councillor for Littlemore and county council candidate for Isis, Oxford