THE difficulties in the Middle East and the debt issues in Greece seem to overshadow events closer to home. Also with any government winning a second term in office, one could almost be forgiven if local happenings failed to get on the radar.

However, you carried three stories recently, their failures lie firmly at the feet of the local Tory MPs and council. I live in an area that once had a No. 20 bus running through it. By stealth, the frequency was reduced and now it has been removed completely. Once buses were able to claim a discount on the duty paid for their fuel, until the Tory Government continuously reduced this. This led to higher fares, reduced frequency and finally withdrawal.

The town’s two Conservative MPs, in my opinion, are complicit in this downward spiral of public services. They could have represented their constituents publically by denouncing this reduction in discount. However, being Tory they would always argue that public services should never compete with private undertakings. Hence they have supported the car over the buses. Their recent picture encouraging commuters to ‘go green’ by catching a bus struck me as rather hollow.

I was equally bemused by one of the town’s pair of Tory MPs packing food parcels at a foodbank. To most people, it is his Government’s policies that have resulted in the massive increase in the usage of such banks, so his support is seen as tokenism at best.

I well remember one of the town’s Conservative MPs making a great play when a local post office was to be closed, before the 2010 election when he was in opposition. However, now he’s in control, the airwaves seem rather silent in his support for a post office in Eldene. Of course with the nearest being Liden or town, one could always catch a bus!

BOB PIXTON Abney Moor Liden Swindon