I DON’T understand Chris Green’s economic arguments in ‘War of words over food banks’ in the Bolton News August 6.

The Conservative-led government has not hidden its plan to significantly reduce the overall benefits spend in England.

Many people in Bolton receive government benefits because they are not presently working and many in work receive additional benefit support.

There is no question that since 2010 there has been an overall reduction in income across people receiving benefits in England.

In three consecutive Budgets, tax credits have been cut and some benefits frozen, with the government taking 500,000 people off disability benefits. Government cuts to sickness and disability benefits are widely covered in the newspapers.

The combination of cuts to benefits and the bedroom tax on families is actually being felt quite hard in towns such as Bolton.

Until there are more jobs available for people, cutting benefits means an increase in people with less money who will want to make best use of charity available in Bolton. The government are tipping the balance of fixing the economy too far against the average citizen and those on the lower household incomes in England.

Another economic indicator is making this starkly clear at the present time; the indicators on savings spend against GDP. We have only had a very fragile improvement in the economy of 0.3 per cent.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics on household spending, household saving, and the household savings ratio show that in the 2012 – 2013 financial year the amount of income that families have put away has dropped from £20.1bn to £11.4bn. Over the same period consumer spending increased by 4.2 per cent. If savings had stayed the same GDP would have lowered.

Too many ordinary families are propping up the fragile, really small, growth in the economy.

The government is, sadly, running the economy with too many short term changes to cut spending when it would be far better to develop the economy to be stronger long term; to invest in the economy, to keep families saving and to improve people’s living standards. Name and address supplied.