ON GOOD Morning Britain there was a feature about private homecare companies.

These companies are saying that the local councils are cutting their grants so much that they are considering closing down.

This is nothing new; we live in what is commonly referred to as sheltered housing and our landlord, Twin Valley Homes, is subject to the same cutbacks.

When we all look around, these cuts go right across our daily lives. How often do we hear of cuts in law and order?

Some police forces are saying they do not have the resources to attend certain crime scenes.

Have we sat in A&E and witnessed staff on the go from the start of their shift, hardly getting time to take a breath till they clock off? No matter which party is in power, they will blame the mess they had to sort out from their predecessors.

They will tell us that the only way they can balance the books is through massive cutbacks, but how did we end like this? Simple.

Over the years they have been buying votes by cutting Income Tax, and we have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. So the real culprits are all of us.

Perhaps the real answer is for everyone to just not vote at elections?

Failing that, HMG might like to consider raising Income Tax.

After all, a lot of the cutbacks in various services only affect people who really need them.

M J Rogers, Darwen (via email)