IT is highly hypocritical of Labour leader Ed Milliband to accuse Southern Cross of treating the elderly as commodities (Echo, June 8), when the Labour-controlled Durham County Council did exactly the same with the closure of the council-run care homes recently.

During the so called consultation into this matter, the council was told time and again that they were leaving elderly people to the mercy of a financially crippled company that had 70 per cent of the care beds in this county.

Yet they still went ahead with the plan on financial grounds.

I hear of contingency plans being in place. If the council-run care homes were still open, they’d be part of the contingency straight away.

As a footnote, is it any wonder people don’t participate in council consultations when the decisions have already been made beforehand?

Billy Bennett, Newton Aycliffe.