Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane completely failed to address the points raised in my letter (‘Local services being destroyed’, Your Views, August 14) apart from acknowledging that Government grants have been cut (‘Taxpayers face the third highest bills in London’, Your Views, August 21). He then does the classic political trick of trying to fudge the issue.

I’d like to reminder your readers what I said...

The coalition did not tell us in 2010 they were going to cut local grants by 30 per cent; Government grant pays for the majority of the services we deliver; Cllr MacLeod-Cullinane and his colleagues have said nothing about the Government cuts; and big business is not paying its fair share towards the tax burden.

I was hoping to start a sensible debate about the future of local government and whether Government policy is right and in line with the wishes of the electorate. I have quickly learned that you cannot have an intelligent debate with the likes of Cllr MacLeod-Cullinane as he and the Tories are out of touch, failing to listen to the electorate and they have learned nothing from their defeat last May.

I urge your readers, who care about the damage being done to local services by this Government to write to the three Harrow MPs. I withdraw my request that they write to councillors Hall and MacLeod-Cullinane as they have demonstrated they do not understand the national and local context of financing local services.

I would also ask Cllr MacLeod-Cullinane to note that neither my first letter or this one use jargon such as gearing. Techno-babble is just a politician’s way of masking the truth.

Looks like the only thing Cllr MacLeod-Cullinane is going to achieve over the next four years is writing the letter of the week.

Cllr Barry H Kendler

Lab/Edgware ward Harrow Borough Council