I support Jeff Osborn’s view regarding the next round of cuts both nationally and locally. Many politicians say that we must cut services and make those that use those services most (which inevitably are the poorest in society) take responsibility for paying off the deficit.

This in a country where the richest one per cent of the UK population are wealthier than the poorest 50 per cent put together. It was not the poor that caused the crisis, it was the greed and arrogance of some of the most wealthy and powerful.

This disparity in wealth has been rising since the 1970s and is simply not acceptable. This is not the politics of envy – simply the politics of justice. The economic crisis in 2008 stemmed from a failed economic system which callously accepts that extreme wealth and poverty can be allowed to exist side by side. The current government simply looks to sticking-plaster solutions, rather than to address a system which continues to fail many of the poorest in society.

Why is it right that an investment banker should earn 50 times that of a care worker? I know which one does most for society.

I know that there is real hardship in Trowbridge, my home town, with many struggling to make ends meet. The rise in the need for food banks in the UK is shocking and the recent report into Hunger in the United Kingdom makes sobering reading.

The rise in costs of food, housing and utilities has put stress on those with limited means, especially as low pay and cuts to welfare hit disproportionally on the poorest in society. This is not fair.

Polls show that many people fear an end of the NHS, fearing an insurance system for those that can pay and a second rate system for those that cannot.

What is important to remember is that the UK is wealthy and it does not need to be that way. We must change the failed economic system and make sure everyone has the right to at least be able to live in a warm home and eat a good meal regardless of what life throws at them.

As the Bible says (1 Timothy 6) “Instruct those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be proud. Tell them to do good and grow rich in noble actions, to be ready to give away and to share, and so acquire a treasure which will form a good foundation in the future.” Perhaps something we should all think about at this time of year.

Jack Mason, Magnolia Rise, Trowbridge.