Sir, All is now much, much clearer. In Ed Vaizey’s blog on October 3, 2009, he commends a national charity as ‘a pretty good model for welfare delivery – people on the ground providing bespoke help and support for those in genuine need, rather than a centralised tick-box system which encourages cheating and dependency’. I believe in and support charities — their work supports our civilisation. It is not fully clear whether Tory policy is going to be that people in need should contact a local charity, rely on their family, or do without. It is not clear whether Ed is labelling all recipients of state payments, such as pensions, benefits, credits, grants as encouraged to cheat and become dependent. It is not clear whether ‘genuine need’ refers to the Victorian concept of the ‘deserving poor’.

If this is the yet-to-emerge Tory policy, then there will be many people in need who do not fall within the remit of a charity, there will be many charities who do not have the funding, and there will be many people who will be too proud even to ask for help.

Councillor Margaret Davies (Labour) Park Ward Didcot