Once more, county council leader Keith Mitchell has resorted to his well-worn tactics to defend his proposals to cut loose so many of our local libraries: asserting that a reduction of budget spread evenly across all libraries would not work (Oxford Mail letters, February 3).

He does not explain why he thinks such a temporary tightening of belts and reduction of services would not work. No figures or reasoning are produced, just a flat refusal to consider the idea, citing “clear professional advice”.

Whose advice? one might ask. Surely not that of the professional library workers who provide us with such an excellent and dedicated service?

Indeed, Mr Mitchell has remained intransigent. Could it be that as part of the deeply meretricious Conservative Big Society project he wants to seize this opportunity to offload as many public services as he can? I can see no other reason.

In ancient Greece and Rome, tender infants were exposed on mountainsides when times were tough. Nowadays, we try to keep everyone going, and the same should apply to the library service and its users.

Those who are too infirm or too needy to make the long journeys to surviving libraries should not just be abandoned.

If we all take some reduction in services, then all can gain when times are better.

Or does Mr Mitchell have plans for a massive re-investment in public services when Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne have worked their economic miracle? Somehow I don’t think so.

Mr Mitchell says that cutting opening hours across the board would “damage the whole service long term”.

Would not cutting 20 out of 43 libraries be doing just that?

MARTIN ROBERTS, Stone Close, Botley, Oxford