l I WRITE regarding the report of Andrew Smith’s whinging (Oxford Mail, October 29).

He issued a virtual threat to the constituents of the loss of his services as the result of having to sack his wife in order to comply with the proposed parliamentary rule changes.

I would suggest there would be no difficulty, in these troubled times, of a replacement member of staff being readily available.

It would also be a worthwhile opportunity to employ an equally qualified person who has become unemployed in the financial downturn.

I feel sure Mr Smith is blatantly aware of the adage that, no one person is indispensable.

There appears to be a conflict between him admitting to paying his wife to work 25 hours per week, while allowing her to work 50 hours a week without payment.

This hardly complies with the true spirit of an elected member of a Labour government which, on each and every occasion, takes the opportunity to extol the introduction of the minimum wage.

Mr Smith adds to suspicion when refusing the article writer questions about his wife’s pay which can only have the effect of regenerating in his constituents’ minds a reminder of the public’s abhorrence of the expense claims scandal.

John Bullivant Leiden Road Headington Oxford