As I write this, Her Majesty the Queen has delivered what most of us believe will be Gordon Brown’s last Speech from the throne, setting out the legislative agenda for the next few years. I don’t envy her the task of reading it.

Part of it, we are told, will address the monstrous level of debt the Government is now in – at least £800 billion and growing by the second. Whatever the detail, the cat is finally out of the bag on Labour’s cuts.

Every householder knows they have to live within their means and pay their bills. The same is true for businesses, local government and even, in time, national government.

Gordon Brown may have tried everything he can to avoid admitting it – but it’s now clear that hundreds of billions of pounds of OUR money will need to be saved to pay HIS bills.

Sadly, we know that much of that will come from cuts in public spending.

Make no mistake, a government led by David Cameron will be as hamstrung by Labour’s debts as one led by Gordon Brown. The difference is Tories have admitted it and set out plans to get Britain off its knees. As the Oxford Mail so wisely said yesterday, we have to be realistic about this.

That’s why we at Oxfordshire County Council laid out our plans for major efficiencies on Tuesday. Around two-thirds of the money we have any choice over spending comes from government. We’ll get a lot less in future, whoever wins the election.

So, we can do one of two things – put up our council tax by enough to make up the difference (which would mean 10 per cent rises every year for five years) or work to change the way we operate as a council.

Our track record in Oxfordshire is very good – we’re financially very sound, rated as one of the best councils in the country for financial management and we’ve already delivered a host of radical savings, but now we need to do more and that includes cutbacks in some of the things we provide. We’ll be bold and honest – stripping out things like publications, red-tape and bureaucracy, and removing around 500 posts from our central functions (not in our schools).

We want to cut out £106 million of spending from areas where we think we could do it better, reinvesting £75m of it in providing more and better services in priority areas. That means the council will have hard choices to make between now and February when our budget is set. I want us to do this openly and honestly. That’s why we’ve put all the options on the table and hidden nothing away.

Councillors may suggest other savings and, if they do, they’ll be considered carefully. So far, we have come up with a list of things where we think we can save and reinvest money best.

These are our services after all and it’s our money so you have a right to have your say and make your views known to your councillor. I encourage you to do just that – tell us what you think.

We’re not in crisis in Oxfordshire but, if we don’t act now, we will be when Gordon Brown’s financial chickens come home to roost. Our responsibility is to make sure that, when our efficiencies programme is complete, you have a smaller, more efficient council which spends money on the things you want and gives you real value for money – and that’s what we’ll do.