GEOFF Holman’s recent letter made valid points in that George Osborne’s austerity policies are to blame for much of the current deterioration in our public services.

As his Tatton seat could disappear under proposals for electoral boundary changes, Osborne recently appealed for support for his alternate proposals, which could save his seat.

However his proposals seem to have fallen on deaf ears, with some people expressing the opinion that they would prefer a parliamentary representative, such as the incumbent in Altrincham, who lives in his constituency and puts the interests of his constituents before his own ambitions.

After all, despite Osborne’s newlyfound affection for the north, he does not live in his northern constituency, holds no open surgeries and the only news most constituents get about his activities is from newspaper reports, or his Tatton website.

This website tells us that the health care of his constituents means a lot to him. If this is so, why are we still waiting for the new Health and Wellbeing Centre, which the Cheshire East Primary Care Trust told us six years ago was needed to provide the health and social care Knutsford needed?

George did pledge support for David Rutley’s campaign to keep A&E at Macclesfield District General Hospital open, and although seemingly it will now stay open, cuts in services are inevitable in order to balance the under-funded local health budget.

So will the axe next fall on our Knutsford Community Hospital, with services transferred to GP surgeries or Macclesfield District General Hospital? After all, a pattern was established when Tatton Ward and Bexton Court were both closed “temporarily”, never to open again.

Patients are now being forced to travel longer distances for medical treatment, and cuts in social care mean it has all but disappeared.

Pharmacies encouraged to take on more patient services to relieve GPs are now threatened with closure, due yet again, to cuts in Government funding.

Public transport in Tatton is a disgrace, with even nearby towns and villages inaccessible; no news on the re-opening of the Middlewich line, and even the modest promised improvements on the Mid Cheshire Line are delayed yet again.

However, this should come as no surprise as the amount spent per capita on public transport in Cheshire East is a fraction of what is spent on public transport in London.

Yet despite this disparity Osborne is happy to spend billions of pounds on HS2, which will hurtle through Cheshire, benefiting only travellers to London by shaving off a few minutes from the current journey time.

All these issues affect George Osborne’s constituents, yet he seldom meets with them to seek their views, and this situation is unlikely to change in view of his new career giving speeches to American audiences.

For he will have even less time in future to devote to constituency matters, so possibly the proposed boundary changes could be good news for his constituents.

Mabel Taylor Knutsford