"A TEN per cent discount on your council tax'' was the dodgy promise made to pensioners by Southampton Conservatives in last May's city council elections. A sprat thrown to catch a mackerel! And it worked!

However, the Conservative administration which took control of the council after the elections is now being forced to admit that only a better-off minority of the city's pensioners will be eligible for the discount, and that services from which many pensioners already benefit may have to be cut back to pay for it.

What the city needs is better services for the many, not tax cuts for the few.

KEITH MORRELL, Labour candidate for Coxford, Southampton.