NICK Chaffey of TUSC seems to be unaware of how councils’ budget setting works.

If Southampton City Council refused to set a budget or set an illegal budget then Labour councillors would be thrown out of office and civil servants from Whitehall would come down to the city and cut services enough to set a balanced budget.

Not only would Labour lose control of the city but we would not be allowed to come back to power or be able to make decisions on what our priorities would be.

It seems funny for Nick Chaffey to suggest that the best way to fight the Tories is for us to hand over power to them.

DAVID FURNELL, Southampton.