I imagine readers would be nodding off very quickly if I spent a lot of time highlighting all the flaws in Chris Robins letter (Oxford Mail, September 9), so let me focus on the only part where he has attempted to put some figures down.

According to the Chancellor, public borrowing is rising by £175bn this year – and now stands at £800bn.

To put this in context, this is an increase of £2,900 and a total of over £13,000 for every man woman and child in this country.

Raising VAT by 2.5 per cent back to 17.5 per cent raises £12bn – and if we took ALL of the banks’ profits so far this year – we’d be lucky to get another £10bn – which is a very small part of the horrendous total.

I’m not surprised Chris has dodged the awkward question again; he is a politician, after all. But it’s still got to be addressed by politicians of all hues.

The fact remains tackling this borrowing will require serious rises in taxes – and/or serious cuts.

I won’t hold my breath waiting for a politician to come up with honest answers where.

Paul Wilson, Kennedy Close, Oxford