COMMENTS in this newspaper (Oxford Mail, November 26), overlooked some serious problems with the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

It is good news that the massive cut to tax credits has been stopped, but this policy has merely been suspended not abandoned.

Yes, it is good news that cuts to policing have been dropped, for now. But the statement also showed that that local government grants will be cut by more than half over the next four years, from £11.5 billion this year to £5.4 billion in 2019/20.

Put simply, this means councils will be forced to charge a lot more for all services they provide, including car parking, charges at swimming pools and leisure centres etc.

Even if local councils use their new powers to raise council tax by an extra two per cent to pay for social care, that will only raise £2 billion, far short of the overall funding gap of £9.5 billion by 2019-20 predicted by the Local Government Association.

Our children’s centres are still likely to be closed, our libraries are still under constant threat, support for bus services is being removed, and the poorest families in Oxfordshire are still bearing the burden of welfare cuts and an unequal tax system.

The Chancellor is still engaged in undermining the ‘Green Economy’ by massive cuts to the Departments for Energy and Climate Change and the Environment.

The Chancellor has announced the largest road-building programme since the 1970s and extra subsidies for nuclear power and fracking, when we should be combating traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions by investing more in public transport and renewables.

Also, the Chancellor has done nothing to remove £26 billion of subsidies to the polluting fossil fuels industries. And his low taxation policies mean that the deficit he pledged to clear continues to rise.

Dr HAZEL DAWE
Headington, Treasurer
Oxfordshire Green Party