Many hard-working and highly competent employees have been sacked from their jobs because Conservatives believe that reducing the number of public staff, no matter how useful they are, is somehow good for the economy.

Tens of thousands more people are to lose their jobs in the coming few months, and generally jobs are becoming more part-time and poorly paid. The effect of this is to increase pressure on personal budgets and to reduce public buying power, which means that thousands more people in the private sector will lose their jobs.

At the same time the Conservative leader urges us all to pay off the whole of our personal debts right now.

How can people pay off debts when they have no jobs?

The selling of our NHS is now on our doorstep. How will people afford healthcare in years to come?

Month by month the Government’s debt gets greater as people without work can’t pay taxes, and other people, anticipating unemployment, try not to spend money. Meanwhile, the wealth and income of the top one per cent in the UK increases beyond any historical comparison, and the banks continue to hold on to £65bn of publicly-paid money.

LARRY SANDERS Green Group, Oxfordshire County Council SUSHILA DHALL chair, Oxfordshire Green Party Stable Close Oxford