One important point needs to be made about this year’s county council budget process.

Neither the Liberal Democrats nor the Greens put forward a budget of their own, despite the attempts to suggest otherwise of Zoe Patrick for the Lib Dems (Oxford Mail, February 22) and David Williams of the Greens (February 24).

Far from producing their own budgets, what the Lib Dems and the Greens chose to do was try to table limited amendments to the Tories’ own budget.

In doing so they were apparently quite content to leave the vast majority of the Tory cuts and Tory budget assumptions in place.

By way of example, the Tory budget includes cuts to the county’s valuable outdoor education centres totalling £878,000 over the five years to 2014/15.

The Lib Dem and Green amendments left these cuts in place. So when these and many other cuts are made, the Tories will be quite entitled to turn to the Lib Dems and Greens and claim that they supported them. The Tory budget this year – with cuts to frontline services like respite care, the outdoor education centres and fire services – was disgraceful. It’s only fair to point out that the Lib Dems and Greens joined Labour in opposing some of the cuts.

But in trying to amend the unamendable, the Lib Dems and the Greens fell into the trap of endorsing the vast majority of the Tory cuts and the assumptions underlying them.

Labour was not prepared to tinker with a Tory budget and we voted against it in its entirety.

The Lib Dems may be happy to do deals with the Tories. Labour is not.

Richard Stevens, councillor, Oxfordshire County Council