JOHN NUTTALL (D&S Times, Mar 18) asks: “Why are we being asked to pay even more money (for adult social care) when we are the fifth richest country in the world?”

One answer is that with an ageing population, there is an increasing need for services for elderly people.

The Green Party’s answer is that if the fifth richest country in the world can’t afford to care for elderly people – and other vulnerable people who need help – what is the point of being rich?

Or to put it another way – as a rich country, we can afford to provide excellent social services, education, and health care. We can afford decent homes for everyone, good public transport, and libraries. We can afford the investment to switch to a zero-carbon economy to avert the worst effects of climate change. How can we afford all these good things? Simply by choosing to prioritise them above Trident, tax cuts for the well-off, and Hinkley Point C, the most expensive nuclear power station in the world.

We share the growing revulsion with George Osborne’s ideologically-driven austerity, aimed at those least able to afford it. Let’s put our resources into the things that really matter – for the common good.

Dave Dalton, Richmond Constituency Green Party