MIKE Watkins asks (Letters 25 Nov) that if the austerity a decade ago made such huge savings “where has all the money gone?” Sadly nothing is gained from such questioning.

Austerity measures were introduced in 2010 under the coalition government because the previous government had allowed spending to continue as though the world financial crisis never happened.

In just three years they had almost doubled the national debt and extreme measures were required to stop the government going bankrupt. The fiscal situation was far worst than today. The austerity measures worked with the government's books balanced by 2015 and the national economy growing again.

Today the fiscal situation is again a problem, in itself a far smaller problem. Yet those earlier cuts make further cuts more difficult and it is not just the government finances in trouble. The national economy is also in trouble having under-performed since 2015. Unlike 2010 it will not bounce back on its own.

As ever, those with the least resources will bear the brunt of it: that's the poorer sections of society.

Blaming the present situation on past governments or on disingenuous election promises is not helpful. Indeed it is this political blame-game that has brought us here, with politicians more interested in their political power than the state of the country.

But we can be optimists. Perhaps the present crisis will demonstrate the errors of their ways and lead to better governance.

Dr Martin Rodger

Bloxworth Road,

Parkstone