Cuts to benefits, cuts to council jobs, cuts to student funding. There seems no end to it.

But at least half these cuts are unnecessary and will only delay the recovery.

Forcing people to do charity work for benefits (Oxford Mail, November 8) is an insult.

We have all paid through our taxes for the benefits we need when we lose our jobs or cannot work because we are sick.

Before the banking crisis, Labour invested in Britain, reduced unemployment and halved child poverty.

In the recession Gordon Brown quite rightly spent more on benefits and protected homes and jobs. In a downturn, governments should spend more.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg are not cutting because they have to. The Tories and Lib Dems are cutting because they want fewer taxpayer-funded jobs.

But doctors, dinner ladies, police officers, teachers and the people who collect our rubbish, are the salt of the earth.

The coalition wants more unemployed to drive down wages and and boost the profits of private companies.

If we cut less, the recovery will come sooner and there will be more taxes to pay off the deficit.

Trying to cut benefits just when public and private jobs are disappearing is cruel and unworkable.

John Tanner, City councillor for Littlemore County councillor for Isis, Sunningwell Road, Oxford