I WAS astounded that Tory councillors Paul Doughty and Tony Richardson and Lib Dem councillor Ian Cuthbertson were not prepared to join with myself and the other Labour councillors at last week’s meeting of the council’s Health Scrutiny Committee in calling for the Primary Care Trust’s historic debts to be written off, and for the Committee to meet the City’s two MPs to discuss the funding crisis, which threatens York’s Hospital.

They should explain to the people of York why they are not prepared to stand up for the interests of the people we are all elected to represent.

And it is a disgrace that they were prepared to act in a politically partisan way, splitting the committee on party political lines, instead of working co-operatively across party lines in the best interests of NHS patients and the citizens of York.

Coun Sandy Fraser (Labour), Micklegate ward, Millfield Road, York.