NEWS that elderly and disabled adults, along with their carers, face proposed extra care charges is extremely ominous.

Vulnerable people across the borough have already endured far more cuts and other indignities than would be their lot in a decent society.

Obviously the bulk of the blame for this must fall on Westminster, whose wealthy denizens first failed to avert a looming financial catastrophe and then ensured the bulk of the price would be paid by blameless people with least to spare.

Our council is a pawn in the hands of those people, but that doesn’t reduce the magnitude of the suffering it must impose.

The talk in the latest round of proposed measures is of people with the resources to pay for their care being asked to subsidise those who lack such resources.

The reality, we fear, is that ordinary people who have managed by luck or judgement to own their homes will end up being obliged to sell those homes and cast themselves on the mercy of the state.

Something else worth noting is that the ongoing process is presented as a consultation with service users.

Unless one of the options on the table is for there to be no change, it would be more accurate to speak not of a consultation but of an ultimatum.

In the interests of clarity, we would like to know precisely what alternatives are presented to service users and their carers.

If the authority is indeed forced to impose added misery, voters have the right to expect every Swindon politician to publicly condemn what will be an obscene situation.