Sir, – I am entirely sympathetic to the views expressed in last week’s edition of D&S concerning the plight of our libraries.

And who wouldn’t be?

To see the funding so drastically cut to this valuable public service (a service not just providing books but also offering information on health, development, employment, councils and education) is not just painfully sad, but simply plain wrong.

The volunteers who will replace paid council staff deserve a medal for their service to the community, while our Westminster politicians deserve to be brought to account.

Decisions made in Westminster have consequences. By the time this letter goes to print the UK Government would have borrowed another £2 billion. (For the sake of your readers this is not a printing mistake – an eye watering hole in our national finances of £2bn a week is the cause of our library crisis). Indeed, in the last five years the Coalition Government has overseen the largest increase in our national debt the country has ever seen, with the country’s debt increasing from £760bn in 2010 to £1.4trn in 2015.

This is a serious matter. The last time our debt was so high (in 1976) the UK went cap in hand to the IMF to the country’s bitter humiliation.

When we elect our MPs there is a basic and fundamental requirement we expect of them – to manage our collective resources in an efficient and effective manner. To spend within our means and to balance the books is first principles.

Thank goodness there is an election in May.

When I see to my horror my local library suffer (or even close) I will remember the wasteful £18 bn a year spent on wind-farms that “don’t go when the wind don’t blow”, the £10 bn a year spent of foreign aid – going to countries developing their own space programme, the £55 bn a year to prop up an undemocratic and recession-hit EU, and the missed opportunities of developing our youth, trading with the high-growth Commonwealth, incentivising scientific education and investing in our rural communities.

I do not blame our local councillors at North Yorkshire County Council for coming up with these difficult library proposals, but come May I will no longer be voting Conservative. I just love my community and my country too much. UKIP will take my vote.

MATT COOKE

Easingwold.