Sir – When is the Tory-run county council going to do something to stop our fire-fighters having to go on strike? The county council should tell the Coalition Government to resolve the dispute.

They should promise not to sack older fire and rescue workers if they become unfit. The county council should lobby the Tory/Lib Dem Government not to increase employees’ pension contributions.

Tory councillors should come and support the fire-fighters on the picket line. Why should fire-fighters have to carry on climbing ladders until they are 60. The Tories are happy to praise our brave fire-fighters when they are battling fires, untangling motorway pile-ups and coping with dangerous chemical spills but when it comes to paying decent wages and proper pensions there is a deafening silence.

Every time there is a strike it costs Oxfordshire taxpayers thousands of pounds to pay retained fire-fighters to cover the gap. Nobody wants to go out on strike; least of all our fire-fighters. But they were forced into three days of action last weekend because the Government won’t negotiate. Cllr John Tanner Labour spokesperson on the Fire & Rescue Service, Oxfordshire County Council Will they condemn it?

Sir – Labour’s latest review of schooling conducted by David Blunkett seems to want to remove all but a few vestigial responsibilities for education from local democratic control.

Instead, Labour is in favour of a school system largely run by unelected commissioners appointed by Whitehall; a trend sadly started by the present Coalition Government at Westminster. Will Liz Brighouse, as both leader of the Labour group on the county council and leader of the official opposition, and Val Smith, the Labour spokesperson on education, join with me in condemning these latest Labour proposals for school commissioners as undemocratic and a wasteful new bureaucracy that will not help create a world-class education system.

I would also be delighted if local Conservatives and independent county councillors would also join with me in standing up for local democracy by sponsoring an all-party motion at the July county council meeting re-affirming the importance of local democratic involvement in education.

Cllr John Howson

Lib Dem spokesperson on education, Oxfordshire County Council