GEORGE Osborne’s final Budget lacks long-term value for Oxfordshire.

It is notable that the possibility of stopping cuts to the National Health Service has not been taken and there were no increases in alcohol or cigarette duties which could have supported the NHS.

Similarly, the opportunity to push the motoring public towards using electric vehicles and public transport to cut noise, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in our congested county was lost when a petrol duty increase planned for September was abandoned.

Taxes on wealth, highest incomes and financial institutions needed to be raised to restore public services and increase useful employment but this was not done.

The Green Party would: end austerity and restore the public sector, create nore than one million good jobs that pay at least a living wage; pay for this with a new wealth tax on the top one per cent, a Robin Hood Tax on the banks and the closure of tax loopholes; increase the minimum wage to reach a living wage of £10 an hour by 2020.

Research shows the wealth of the richest 20 per cent has grown by 57 per cent since 2005 while that of the poorest 20 per cent has fallen by 46 per cent. A basic duty of political parties standing in the General Election is the restoration of social hope: that we can and we will make a better, more equitable and more sustainable society for ourselves, our children and their children.

Dr HAZEL DAWE Treasurer Oxfordshire Green Party Bulan Road, Oxford