In response to Mrs Pressel’s letter (Oxford Mail, December 17) concerning public spending cuts, she needs to understand that the real test of local politicians will happen much sooner than she clearly expects.

If we are to see libraries and youth clubs survive and return at a future time to local council funding, it will have been through the efforts of local councillors and others acting as social entrepreneurs in helping local communities retain the local services they value most and that councils can no longer afford by encouraging volunteering, local fundraising and innovative approaches to service delivery.

In short this means the Big Society. I suspect the electorate will see through those councillors who spend their time creating smoke screens in a vain attempt to hide Labour’s contribution to the financial mess in which we find ourselves.

It is, after all, how all Labour governments end – broke and in tears.

Keith R Mitchell, Leader of the Council, County Hall, Oxford