SIR – Worcestershire County Council’s chief executive Trish Haines will not be taking the voluntary pay cut recommended by local government secretary Eric Pickles.

Mrs Haines is contracted on a salary band ranging from £167,977 to £183,725 a year.

Earlier this year it was announced that Worcestershire County Council would have to make “inevitable” cuts totalling £45 million. The Government claims that in this recession/depression “we are all in this together”, but is Mrs Haines able to say that she is doing her bit?

The truth is that the cuts are not inevitable. The mess we’re in was caused by irresponsible and greedy bankers who have since been bailed out with public money. The past two years have been cynically rewritten. The blame for the irresponsibility of the banks and private sector has now somehow been transferred on to those providing our vital public services.

It’s time that the Government, Worcestershire County Council and Trish Haines recognised that.

Neil Laurenson, Worcester Green Party