The Institute for Fiscal Studies argues that the years between 2011 and 2015 "must" see the largest cuts in public spending since 1976-80 (Parties 'dishonest on cuts', 28 April). That's a line all the major parties are peddling in the runup to the general election, and it's a lie. There's no need for a single penny to be cut. Those who say there is should read the Sunday Times Rich List 2010 (Report, 26 April). It exposes the fact that the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 residents of the UK now stands at £335.5bn – an increase of 29.9% on last year's figure and 239% on 1997. So let's have no more talk from the politicians from all the mainstream parties about the "necessity" of "savage cuts" in public spending. The money for the things that the vast majority of the population need – housing, health, education and jobs – is in the grotesquely inflated pockets of the mega-rich. Time for them to cough up. And let's have no more witless talk about how "we're all in this together".
• There are three reasons why the parties have not "come clean"about the scale of cuts "required" to reduce the budget deficit: deep uncertainty about the short- and medium-term prospects for economic growth (the least painful source of tax revenue); the exigencies of inter-party competition (a pre-election spending review would have been a political gift to Labour's opponents); and the persistent refusal of voters to acknowledge the links between public spending and taxation (you can't have either a civilised welfare state or a world-class warfare state if you're not prepared to pay for them).