Painful lessons

Richard Lucas (Letters, 15 May) expresses his horror at the high proportion of Oxbridge graduates in the new Cabinet.

The educational background of many of our Westminster MPs does indeed make interesting reading. Some 54 per cent of Conservatives were privately educated, and 41 per cent of Liberal Democrats. This compares with the national average of about 7 per cent. Tory leader David Cameron and Lib Dem counterpart Nick Clegg attended elite fee-paying schools, Eton and Westminster respectively.

When the steep cuts in government spending – and probable tax increases – are decided on in the next few weeks, it will hardly be reassuring for the electorate to know that, given their comfortable backgrounds, our political masters are likely to have little experience or understanding of low incomes, blighted housing estates, "sink" schools, unemployment and crime.

KEDDIE LAW

Lunan Avenue

Montrose, Angus