I DON’T understand why the Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposition in York continue to be so personal.

Politics is about ideas and ideals, not petty squabbling. Coun Ian Cuthbertson said about a Labour councillor that if he “had paid a little more attention in class, he might have got a better grasp of the financial situation in York” (Letters, February 6).

He went on to say “cuts in York are not enforced by the Government, but are about ideological choices taken by the Labour council”. I wonder what his reason is for cuts in other councils up and down the country?

All councils are experiencing large cuts in Government funding and to not recognise this challenge is not only disingenuous, it is also irresponsible.

Coun Cuthbertson went on to criticise council borrowing in his letter.

This is surprising as I recently attended a public meeting with him in his ward and he said I should consider borrowing money to pay for everday services in his ward.

This would be irresponsible. It appears he says one thing in front of his voters and another to readers of The Press.

Coun James Alexander, Labour leader of City of York Council.
 

• CITY of York Council continues to inflict pain on citizens with a further 1.9 per cent tax increase and cuts to local services, while blaming it all on central government (The Press, February 4).

However, the Labour regime is careful to keep the council tax rise just below two per cent, which is thought to be the “trigger” for a referendum on its budget.

Why? Because at the May 2011 elections Labour received less than 32 per cent of the votes cast and since then lifelong Labour supporters have stated they will never vote for them again.

There is no chance of Labour gaining any endorsement of its budget through a referendum in this city.

Consequently, you can be sure that council tax increases will always be set at a figure just underneath that which would result in electoral censure.

John Jones, Sand Hutton, York.