I WAS staggered by the hypocrisy of David Nuttall MP over his professed concern about the proposed closure of both Bury Magistrates Court and Bury County Court.

Mr Nuttall says that closing the courts in Bury would be a huge loss to the town. I agree and would also support the view that justice needs to be local. People should be dealt with by magistrates and judges who know the area and its problems. Mr Nuttall also must be aware of the tremendous inconvenience that closure of the courts will cause to all the various court users.

Yet in spite of the obvious issues, he supports a government which is looking to departments with unprotected budgets such as HM Courts and Tribunals Service to find savings of up to 40% and which is looking to find the savings by, amongst other things, making government departments sell off government property. Court buildings are an obvious target and many more courts across the North West in addition to Bury’s are set for closure.

Mr Nuttall shouldn’t just bemoan the court closures but should put pressure on the Treasury to reverse its ideologically driven spending cuts which are set to have a very damaging effect on many people across the country.

Martin Hayes

Bury