Outside the ranks of the captains of industry, commerce or banking, there can be few jobs where you go into work in the morning with the knowledge that you will be required to make decisions that will involve millions of pounds and affect the lives of countless people, writes George Frew.

But yesterday, this was exactly the task that faced Oxfordshire's democratically elected members at County Hall.

After a hard morning rubber-stamping decisions made earlier, and following a soothing and satisfying lunch of steak pie - the mere aroma of which would have caused anyone on a diet to lose the will to live - the shire's representatives reconvened to consider where the money was going to end up this year. Some call it a budget. Other more cynical souls might think of it as robbing Peter to pay Paul - but then, politics has always been about priorities.

The rumour mill had been grinding out peppercorns of speculation, as usual. The hushed word was that when the predicted cuts came, it was social services who would most likely feel the wound.

Education, as usual, was to be the sun's bright child, the one who got the nod and the money. Or most of it.

The financial cake amounted to some £400m and education would end up with 60 per cent of it, which was a nice slice for now and a bit to eat later. Social services would have to make do with the crumbs that fell from the county council table. That was the feeling, anyway. And no, said John Power, political activist of 40 years' standing and present county councillor for the west ward, it was not a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Mr Power, 61, had been New Labour long before any of the doctors dreamed up their first spin, a senior shop steward and a man whose convictions had been tempered in the flame of belief.

"I vividly remember when we did have a financial crisis here," he said. "But it's all imminent doom and gloom now. Maybe it's developing into robbing Peter to pay Paul, but it shouldn't have done. Any cuts in the social services budget will impose strains on the elderly. We no longer have a single elderly people's home in the heart of this city. And caring for the elderly should be a big part of our judgements." Suggestion that, politically, there were not a lot of votes in this, were met with a quiet rebuttal. "Oh, but there are," said Mr Power. "Every voter has a grandmother or grandfather. And anyway, care of the elderly is a hallmark of civilised society - and I'm in the majority here.

"There are 16,000 people employed by the county council at present - that's three per cent of the entire labour force. Too much money is spent on the number of officers. If the chief executive is earning £90,000 a year but says he could get more in the private sector, then I say, 'Fine - go to the private sector'."

Of the elected 70 county councillors, 68 attended yesterday. For that, they receive £31.50 and the usual £66 a month after tax. John Power's concerns for the aged are matched by his fears over children in care. No prizes for guessing which department is responsible for both groups.

As the afternoon wore on, the decisions were made, the money tree shaken and the cake cut.

And so the budget went through, as expected. Social services took the financial rap, as expected. Over the next three years, £10m would be hacked from its budget.

And you thought of John Power's worries and it was difficult not to come to the conclusion that vital as the education of our young people is, our democratically elected members had thrown money at the future but impoverished our past.

Story date: Wednesday 09 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.