NO matter how much our local senior Tory politicians may wring their hands and bury their heads in the sand, they are to blame for the devastation this Government is causing.

The first budget that Slasher produced was the only one in my memory that was actually designed to put people out of work. The belief is that the private sector will soak up the unemployed. Recent figures show that only three per cent, yes three per cent, of the jobs created last year were permanent. Another deliberate action by the Government is to alter the tax banding with the net result that quarter of a million people will end up by paying more. Of course just like the previous Tory rule, they immediately put up VAT, I believe that Mrs Thatcher actually doubled it.

What we are seeing is a wholesale dismantling of public organisations, built up over numerous years for the benefit of all, being sold off. The uproar over the sale of our forests, the closure of libraries and the starving of funds for such as the Sure Start schemes illustrates to me that this Government really has no idea of how ordinary people live. I would rather have a 1p duty on the price of petrol and such schemes kept. Poor Mr Cameron says: “It’s complex!” He knew this before he took office but it didn’t stop him trying to be the ‘motorists friend’ before the election did it?

While I and millions like me have seen our income reduced and our expenditure increased by the wanton actions of this romance led reckless Government, the real loser in all of this is trust. Remember the TV debates and the promises the leaders made? How quickly they have changed their tune. The Lib Dems will have the albatross of tuition fees around their necks for a generation.

We can’t trust the Tories on tax or their promises. Now that the Chancellor is making plans for his second budget, next month, I suspect he will try to save his face and so the phrase ‘the Chancellor’s not for turning’ will become his mantra.

Mr Osborne, we need a Plan B before we become a rising inflation, rising interest rate, part time DIY country.

With our history and talent we deserve better.

BOB PIXTON Sedgebrook Liden Swindon