SIR – As bad as the estimate of 7,500 job losses from the cuts to public expenditure look, the picture may be far worse.

Official figures still assume growth in the overall economy of more than two per cent a year and private sector investment to compensate for the cuts.

These assumptions look increasingly questionable, with either a patchy recovery that favours the South-East or a return to recession.

Deep cuts in public expenditure will depress demand, and have a knock-on effect on the private sector.

Also, after the first wave of public sector redundancies next year, many of the services planned for privatisation will have to cut costs even further and will attempt to achieve this by a further round of redundancies, if they are to meet their savings targets.

Unemployment levels would be more in the region of 12,000 to 15,000. Rather than accept this as inevitable, it reinforces the need for a broad-based campaign against the cuts in order to save jobs and retain public services – now, before it is too late.

Steve Schofield, Park Crescent, Bradford