FAR from a budget to reward work (Oxford Mail, March 22) the Chancellor is giving to the very wealthy and taking from everybody else.

Scrapping the 50p rate for people with incomes of more than £150,000 a year (in excess of £3,000 a week) is a scandal.

George Osborne has exposed the lie that “we are all in this together” in these difficult times.

It is more cuts on the poor, the sick, the unemployed, the homeless, people with children and the retired.

And all to pay for tax breaks for the very wealthy.

If the coalition has spare money they should stop cuts to tax credits, or cuts to the police, or even pay back more of the deficit.

Instead they have squandered our money on the super-rich.

Labour would tax bank bonuses to employ young people to build desperately needed homes.

We would temporarily cut VAT to give a boost to every family in Oxford and to Oxford’s economy.

We would cut National Insurance to help employers to take on more staff.

To create growth we should bring forward projects like the East-West rail link, the Barton housing scheme and the ‘green deal’. Osborne and David Cameron will do very nicely out of this Budget. The rest of us will struggle as public services are cut and cut.

JOHN TANNER (Cllr, Labour) Board Member for a Cleaner, Greener Oxford City Councillor for Littlemore and County Councillor for Isis Sunningwell Road Oxford