Monday's Letters: Don't forget Nick Clegg's broken promise to the voters

This is the same Liberal Democrat leader who decided his party should cynically, without any excuse, break its absolute manifesto promise to support a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Manifesto promises are the most binding that any party can make. They are the contract with the citizenry justifying their election. When a party breaks such a promise they can no longer claim our trust.

Sometimes, when the cause is an economic downturn or something turning out to be legally or economically more difficult than expected, they may be forgiven if never again wholly trusted. However, Clegg's broken promise is not of that nature.

It would have been easy to vote to let us have the democratic choice over Europe they promised, indeed easier than to break it. It follows automatically that there are now no circumstances whatsoever under which any promise made by him or his party, no matter how easy to implement, can ever, under any circumstances, be trusted.

The Lib Dems are not alone in this – Labour and the Conservatives made the same promise. Labour cynically broke it too. While the Conservatives did vote for a referendum Cameron subsequently broke his "cast iron" promise that, under him, we would still get this vote.

However only the Lib Dems' manifesto launch contained the words "promise" seven times, "trust" five times and says we should not vote for parties whose promises we cannot trust. Just how stupid does he think we are?

I think we should take his advice. There are several smaller parties who are not proven wholly dishonest.

From: Neil Craig, Woodlands Road, Glasgow.

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From: David Lewis, Church End, Cawood, York.

THE one thing that gets me about the campaign at the moment is the glib acceptance of soundbites without any analysis. Take three Tory pledges from Tuesday.

Firstly, "Let's get more people involved locally". Well, we used to have good local democracy. Then the Tories in the 1980s decided it didn't like local people who dared to deviate from their central diktat. So Thatcher and Ridley emasculated the lower tiers of the national political structure. Why would any new Tory government give back what it took away?

Secondly, "Anyone can set up a new school". But presumably they'd all have to follow the national curriculum and its accompanying Byzantine regulatory system, as imposed by the Tories in the 1990s. Why would keen amateurs be able to do this better in their spare time if trained professionals struggle to do it full-time?

Thirdly "You can have a referendum to reject council tax rises". We already do. They're called annual council elections.

It's not rocket science or deep cynicism to think of these points to pose when a party proposes what they claim to be a winning idea.

From: Mark Roper, executive director, Civil Engineering Contractors Association (Yorkshire and Humberside), Bond End, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire

AS the election campaign is now in full swing, and the respective party leaders are explaining their policies they need to be mindful of the urgent need to deliver a strategic approach for Yorkshire and Humberside's infrastructure – our transport, energy, water, waste and flood defences.

Reliable, effective infrastructure is essential for the competitiveness of our regional economy and is fundamental to our quality of life. The country as a whole faces significant challenges including continued congestion on our road and rail networks, and an ageing energy network that will struggle to meet future demand without significant investment.

These issues can only be properly addressed by a strategic approach to infrastructure. This must be based on a strategic infrastructure plan, planning reform, innovative means of securing finance for major projects, and a workable structure for industry/government dialogue.

The challenges faced by our regional and national infrastructure will outlive the life of the next Parliament. Now is the time for all parties to start thinking strategically about infrastructure, which must be a top priority for whoever is in Government after May 6.

From: Simon Parsons, Great George Street, Leeds.

THE letter from JW Smith (Yorkshire Post, April 14) made me smile. The view of this individual is that every single area is now significantly improved in Yorkshire compared to the period 1979 to 1997. What rubbish! This pathetic Government, despite throwing huge amounts of money at countless quangos, has failed to deliver and in so many areas we are so much worse off.

We have record levels of debt which will take a generation to pay off. Our transport system is a joke. Just ask the thousands of commuters that have to put up with cattle-like conditions on their daily commute.

Local pubs are shutting their doors on a daily basis unable to make a living, because of the huge amounts of tax and excise duty that the Government demands. Rural communities are much more isolated, with Post Offices shutting and amenities miles away.

The sleaze of this Government is probably worse than the last years of the Major administration, and we have had to put up with probably the most incompetent Prime Minister for generations, who sold our gold reserves for a fraction of their worth, raided our pension funds of billions, and yet claimed to have saved the world. Get real, this

Government deserves to kicked into oblivion.

Council's behaviour is beyond belief

From: Stan Brackenbury, Minster Moorgate, Beverley.

EAST Riding of Yorkshire Council, claiming to be one of the "top 10" local authorities, does little to win the acclaim of those who vote. Never noted for its sincere and genuine consultation with the general public, during recent days and weeks it has entered into activities which are almost beyond belief.

1. It has been criticised by the District Auditor for its dealings with Mercury Design and Marketing Ltd. He identified a number of matters indicative of poor practice which questioned the conduct of officers.

2. More than 360,000 has been "set aside" to facilitate an early retirement payment

to a senior officer. This payment is one for which the council has no contractual responsibility.

3. A recent announcement stated some senior officers have received salary increases of about 17 per cent during the past year. The defensive statement by the chairman

that because ERYC sets such high standards, high salaries have to be paid to officers to achieve those standards, does not bear any serious consideration.

Little publicity has been given to these incidents, and certainly no mention has been made in the council's own "free" newspaper, which concentrates on telling the voting public what an excellent council it is.

I consider it is most unfortunate that public opinion does not intervene and ask for an explanation of this apparently uncontrolled and wasteful expenditure.

This kind of behaviour has been taking place for years and surely, it is time it should be questioned and halted.

Hazards of horse race

From: Miss Muriel Stammers, The Poplars, Leeds.

I AM writing in support of your correspondent's concern (Yorkshire Post, April 16) about the horses which have to be destroyed because of impossibly difficult horse racing courses.

When I was a small child, 70 years ago, my father came home from work one evening full of rage and pity as he had been on duty as a relief railway clerk at Doncaster when a number of horses had been shot due to injury on the course.

Our dad had survived the Somme when the trench in which he was had been hit by a shell, killing 12 out of 14 men. He was later a

lieutenant in the Home Guard in World War Two. But my brother and I never forgot his urge to us not to attend race meetings when we grew up and, more especially, what he said was called "steeple-chasing", with its terrible jumps and ditches.

Nothing seems to have changed except the hazards have got worse, although reputed to be better. My father died before the end of World War Two, at the age of 48.

Greek debts of dishonour

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Acomb, York.

GREECE'S economy, not for the first time, is in a ruinous, catastrophic state. Greece's debt is more than twice that of the UK and the country riddled with corruption.

Greece has "fudged" its accounts for decades. It tricked the EU into allowing Greece to be a member of the eurozone. Now the Greek Government is asking the many thousands, if not millions, of wealthy Greeks who live in other parts of the world, to help bail them out. Good idea; if they all donated 1,000, it would raise about 11bn.

What is not right nor fair, is for the Greeks to expect the likes of superbly secure and sensible and well run and hard working and honest Germany to come with a financial rescue.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is correctly against any such offer and some German lawyers have pointed out that it is against EU Law and the Maastricht Treaty. The UK is in no position to offer money either – we need every pound for our near bankrupt selves. The only answer to Greece's big problem, and those faced by the likes of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain and the UK, is to learn from the Germans and adopt similar rules and self discipline, and basic monetary common sense – we need a radical cultural change.