Have a Good NEWS

I agree with your pertinent and timely editorial (When cuts go too deep, 19 June). The "opportunity" presented by the financial crisis will allow the Conservatives to fulfil the Thatcherite dream of undermining the welfare state, but it will be cloaked by Cameron's reasonable words.

We must not fall for the argument that wholesale cuts are simply a necessary case of good housekeeping, but instead realise the cold reality of the ideological position this represents. Experience has told us that when services are slashed they are rarely, if ever, reinstated. The frustrating aspect is that it doesn't have to be this way, despite what Cameron and Osborne would have us believe. Instead of 80% of savings being raised by cuts to services and 20% by taxation, it should surely be the other way round. This is a more just solution and one which would not disproportionately penalise the poor, the vulnerable, families and those who work for the public good. In contrast, drastic cuts to services and indirect taxation will only lead to a more exclusive society with far deeper social divisions.

Calix Eden

London

?€? Liberal Democratic Party voters and activists will be judged on the coalition 'spending plans - cuts and tax increases - in accordance with criteria established by the Liberal Democrat ministers.

Judged by these criteria, the most recent cuts are at best a public relations disaster and at worst a failure (Job schemes to go as coalition shelves projects worth £10.5bn, June 18). As voters, the Liberal Democratic Party and the activists want to see, clearly defined, is a distinctive Liberal Democrat contribution to the coalition. If our ministers are t 'to do what they are doing there?

Tony Greaves

House of Lords

• Many of the cuts detailed by the government have been targeted at young people. Axing free swims for under-16s and over-60s follows announcements to stop further free school meals pilots as well as cutbacks to the Building Schools for the Future scheme.

This seems contradictory to Nick Clegg's speech last week, which highlighted rising teenage obesity and child poverty. That's why Newham has pledged to continue free swims for residents and free school meals for primary school pupils once government support ends. Last year 39,000 over 60-year-olds took advantage of free swims, along with 36,000 under-16s â€" these figures show the true value of the scheme.

Robin Wales

Mayor of Newham

• Danny Alexander accuses the last government of making commitments it could not fulfil (Report, 18 June). Labour, he adds, "cynically played politics with the hopes of many communities". One of the cuts and "suspensions" proposed by Alexander concerns the Holt Park Wellbeing Centre project in Leeds.

In March 2009, the then Lib Dem/Conservative-run city council announced that it had successfully bid for £32m of government private finance initiative credits (PFI) from the Department of Health to build a new wellbeing centre for Holt Park, a large working class housing estate in Leeds. The now "suspended" wellbeing centre was supported across the political board, and consultation was well advanced. In short, this project, partly proposed and supported by Leeds Lib Dems, was not part of a last-minute, irresponsible spending plan left by the previous government. The cynicism, Alexander, lies not with Labour but firmly with you.

Derek W McKiernan

Leeds

• Our seven organisations have formed United for Education as we are deeply alarmed at the proposed cuts of £1.5bn to further, adult and higher education. Before tomorrow's budget, we call upon the chancellor, George Osborne, to safeguard funding for our universities and colleges. This country already has nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training, at a time when up to 70% of colleges are planning to cut courses. In higher education we now face the spectre of more than 200,000 qualified applicants being denied a place at university this year as a result of funding cuts. These cuts will have a devastating impact on provision, with teachers, lecturers and support staff around the country facing the dole queue at a time when they have never been needed more.

We also reject the idea of lifting the cap on student top-up fees which we believe will squeeze out poorer students. Rather, there should be sustained public investment in education to promote widening participation and aid economic recovery.

Dr Mary Bousted general secretary, ATL Ronny Smith general secretary, Education Institute of Scotland Paul Kenny general secretary, GMB Aaron Porter president, NUS Tony Woodley, Derek Simpson joint general secretaries, Unite Sally Hunt general secretary, University and College Union Dave PrentisGeneral Secretary, Unison

• Polly Toynbee's idea of an office to measure the fairness of cuts seems essential (Comment, 19 June). Let's go beyond the rhetoric of cuts, and get some real data on the fairness of cuts and taxes. Perhaps a voluntary organisation, such as 38 DegreesWould do this. I would certainly make annual donations to support the Office of fairness.

John Haworth

Manchester