The letter was printed in yesterday's paper and the full text is reproduced below.
During the week when the Con-Dem Coalition Government delivered the most regressive budget for a generation Francis Maude decided to skim over the implications of this in favour of dedicating most of his weekly column to explaining just how busy he is chairing and attending meetings.
At one point I felt he was about to tell us all what he ate for lunch, but we were spared that revelation as he ran out of column inches.
And this week Francis still desists from explaining what effect the budget will have on Horsham residents in favour of providing us all with an opportunity to nominate a particular service for the axe. Is he attempting to run the country or hosting some kind of expensive game show?
The good people of Horsham have given Francis Maude a second chance by overlooking his personal extravagances, but in return Francis, we do deserve a more thorough explanation as to why your party, along with your new fan club, the Lib Dems, have decided to immediately put the fragile recovery at risk and inflict the painful consequences on us all.
Shouldn’t we also know from our parliamentary representative, at this critical time, which services will be cut as a result of his party’s budget? There is already a suggestion that youth services will be slashed with youth clubs closing across the district. How many of the desperately needed affordable homes will not now be built? And how many local government employees in Horsham will lose their jobs?
The Chancellor delivered a budget that will throw people out of work, hold back economic growth and damage the public services we all rely on – and increased VAT from 17.5% to 20%, the most regressive of taxes, will result in higher prices paid in the shops by everyone, from pensioners to the unemployed.
The Tories’ cuts are unfair to families and older people: cuts to the disability living allowance, cuts to help for the jobless, cuts to tax credits, cutting back free school meals, and cuts to Child Benefit, which they have frozen for the next three years.
What the people of Horsham needed was a budget to support economic growth, protect jobs and cut the deficit fairly. Instead the Tories gave us a reckless budget that pulls the rug out from under the recovery.
And they couldn’t have done it without the support of the Lib Dems, who have let down everyone who voted for them in the election just a few weeks ago.
What Francis Maude was clearly too embarrassed to admit in his column is that the 'nasty party' has resurfaced with a vengeance but on this occasion it has a new admirer in the form of the 'not quite so nice as you thought' party led by Nick Clegg and his now discredited cohorts. Oh, and as a starter for 10 Mr Maude, why not pay back all those inappropriate expenses you claimed at our expense during the last parliament?
David Hide
Chair Horsham Labour Party