It is important to use sharp secateures to make a clean cut. A blunt blade will make a bruised cut where disease can enter. 
Cut at an angle in the same direction as the outward facing bud is pointing.
The cut should be close to an outward facing but with the cut not too close or distant from the bud.
Here are some examples of the right way and wrong way to prune your roses.
This branch was cut in autumn to reduce wind rock. The brach needs to be cut back harder.
This cut is too far from a bud and at the wong angle. The red line indicates the correct andgle and distance from an outward facing bud.
This cut is just a bit too close to the bud.
This cut was made with a blunt blade and disease has set in. Although the shoot looks healthy it will be fighting disease rather than healthy new growth.
David Austin suggest using shears to trim your roses in to an attractive dome.
Pruning roses is not difficult or complicated as some like to make out. In the wild, herbivoures nibble off branches and the plants have evolved to cope with this ‘pruning’. Pruning encourages new healthy growth.
Remove all dead and damaged branched. This branch was rubbing against another, damaging the stem and allowing disease to enter. Cut these branches back to healthy new growth.
The Complete Gardens Plant Finder and Pruning Guide covers a wide range of UK plants and accompanied with illustrated pruning advice.
