It may well be the case, as Keith Mitchell says (Oxford Mail, November 19), that government spending will be reduced, whoever wins the election.

That, however, is only part of the story.

It seems to have been forgotten that a large sum of county council money has been locked away in an Icelandic bank. If we are lucky, it may eventually be recovered, but in the meantime the council has to manage without either the money or the interest expected from it.

The money itself came from the council’s reserves, so its loss does not immediately affect services (although it will eventually need to be replaced, if it is not recovered).

The interest would, however, have been spent on council services.

It is easy for Mr Mitchell to blame the Government, but in reality the council’s mismanagement of investments has exacerbated the cuts.

Mr Mitchell glosses over the fact that the Tories have instructed councils they control to prepare deep cuts in anticipation of a Cameron Government – if elected – demanding even greater cuts than are needed to repay Government debt.

We know the county council informed the unions of differing levels of service cuts. The original proposals were bad enough, but their replacement is even more severe.

It is hard not to wonder whether the original figure given to the unions represented cuts due to the Icelandic fiasco and reduced Government grants, while the increased figure reflects the extra cuts demanded by the Tory high command.

Chris Robins, Kidlington Parish Councillor, Foxdown Close, Kidlington