IN TIMES of austerity, I am surprised at the comments made by the current and former leader of the Lib Dems on the decision to reduce the bins in the city in a targeted way.

When difficult decisions are necessary, we should always look at the impact on jobs and growth as well as the effect of cuts on our most vulnerable. I would therefore suggest that the decision to prioritise services such as adult social care should be applauded.

It is surely not that much of a sacrifice to monitor our own communities in case of overt littering and in the case of problems the council has suggested it will reconsider those specific areas.

I would therefore suggest that the local Lib Dems should not follow their national colleagues in overt opportunism, but instead work with the Labour group to protect services that the most vulnerable need.

Indeed, they may do well to reflect on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent comments that the Coalition’s “big society’ rhetoric is designed to conceal a deeply damaging withdrawal of the state from its responsibilities to the most vulnerable”.

Richard Bridge, Holgate Road, York.