Madam,

Quentin Deakin’s letter (‘Shame on prime minister as towns deprived of most basic of tourist-friendly facilities‘, last week’s Cambrian News) illuminates clearly the Janus face of so much opposition in Dwyfor-Meirionnydd to Theresa May’s programme of cruel austerity. Liz Saville-Roberts is a savage critic (quite rightly) of austerity. Yet our AM, Lord Elis-Thomas, until recently a Plaid member, advocates co-operation with the government.

But the most severe contradiction in Plaid and community politics is in attitudes to the council’s cruel cuts. Gwynedd’s programme has always been unnnecessary. Indeed, without any of the cuts to services that it proposes, Gwynedd Council would break even over the period 2016-2019. Where, then, is all that money that should be spent on leisure centres, tourist offices, toilets etc, going? It is going wholly needlessly into ‘reserves’, and on grandiose re-assessment and reorganisation schemes produced by private consultancies. How can they square their methods to their own MP?And a pretty penny was spent on the Gwynedd Challenge survey. It was vociferously supported by local community group, SOS Gwynedd. They didn’t oppose cuts but did approve of the survey asking electors what cuts they would tolerate. Seventy-five per cent of respondents didn’t want a single tourist information centre saved. Thank goodness SOS Gwynedd activists seem to have changed their minds about bigging up the survey. Let us hope that the change of attitude applies to cuts, to toilets for example, which previously it had been argued were ‘done and dusted’ and so should be accepted without criticism.

There never was a reason for austerity at all when there is so much untaxed income and wealth in the hands of the super-rich. Make way for the socialist programme which will tax the rich till the pips squeak.

Yours etc

Ian MacIntyre

Arthog Terrace

Arthog.