SIR – You report the deputy leader of Worcester City Council has said that it is not the job of the city council to support “employment for employment’s sake” and that the council leader says the council should not be ashamed in times of financial restraint to “live within our means” (Worcester News, June 23).

At a time when private sector firms say banks are not helping them to grow and people do not have money to spend, only the State can get the economy moving by spending on our behalf.

The alternative of austerity favoured by the coalition Government has now got us in a double-dip recession with insufficient economic demand.

The leadership at Worcester’s Guildhall clearly thinks the same way and so there is no prospect of jobs, crucially, for young unemployed people.

This is not the time for narrow-minded pennypinching.

The council should promote economic well-being by employing directly as many people as they can to work in local services and in apprenticeships for the young unemployed.

This will give those people a sense of hope and money in their pocket to spend in the local community.

STEVE MARTIN
Chairman, Worcester Trades Union Council