Wednesday's Letters: The English have voted for a Tory government

Another comment made by the pundits was that, as Prime Minister, David Cameron would have no mandate to govern Scotland, as there is only one Conservative MP there. No comment was made about the fact that Gordon Brown – who was an unelected Prime Minister – never had a mandate to run England, which to my knowledge, has never elected a socialist government.

If the Union is to survive, all its citizens should be given equal opportunities, we should not be spending more per head in Scotland than in England and we could save billions of pounds by scrapping the Scottish, Irish and Welsh Assemblies. Otherwise, the English will always be the poor relations with Labour or a coalition of Labour and the Lib Dem in power, seeking to prop up their Government with sops to the provinces.

Finally, what an opportunist politician Nick Clegg has proved to be, talking a good talk, but horse-trading with Labour. It was very obvious the numbers did not add up to a workable Lab-Lib majority

Another election, possibly in the autumn, should show what the

electorate really think of the Lib Dems.

From: Geoff Sweeting, Station Road, Wressle, Selby

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole, East Yorkshire.

HAVING studied the election result special (Yorkshire Post, May 8), it was immediately obvious that had David Cameron had the courage required to give the electorate what they really wanted – a referendum on leaving the EU – he would already be sitting in No 10 as Prime Minister without any need to consider the Liberal Democrats and their crackpot ideas.

Incidentally, the smug and incompetent Ed Balls was one of the 24 seats which the Conservatives could have won.

So, in a few months' time when we have another election, will Mr Cameron have learned from his mistake, and have the courage to pledge us a referendum, thus winning a clear majority?

It is time the Conservatives ignored the dinosaurs like Kenneth Clarke –let's be out of the EU before the euro drags us down completely.

From: Maurice Wadley, Olive Grove, Harrogate

CAN anyone beat my record?

The last item of election material was delivered to my abode on the election day Thursday.

There was a total of 42 separate items and amounted to 440 grams in weight which does not include the envelopes,delivered by Royal Mail and privately,and some were repeats. I did not log the number of individual deliveries that were made and I do not intend to determine how many political parties were involved, but surely all that time, effort, money and the use of the resources deserves something better than a

hung Parliament.

From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

YOU could say that with all the fumbling and muddle following the inconclusive election, we have reached a crossroads. By the way, coalitions are handled on the continent as a matter of course and some of those countries at least seem to do alright.

I will be told that we are stuck with the system and have to put up with it. Why? I have a suggestion. Let's sweep away all the corruption and scandal now indelibly associated with politics. Yes, people do like the idea of an MP fighting their corner but more of this merely involves forwarding the constituent's letter to the right department.

I have no doubt an apolitical ombudsman figure could do the same job at least as well and probably better. This system already works well in certain areas, for example banking and there can be no objection to it in principle.

No doubt people would ask who would run the country. The answer is the Civil Service who already do that job rather than the politicians who cannot possibly master their briefs in the year or two before they move on. No wonder Switzerland is so rich; they seem to do quite well without all this political nonsense.

From: Terry Wiseman, High Storrs Crescent, Eccleshall, Sheffield.

THE Liberal Democrats made proportional representation one of their four key policies for the General Election. Unless I missed something, and despite all the Cleggmania – 65 per cent of the voters utterly trashed and rejected this by voting for the two main parties – the Lib Dems lost it! However, a party that attracted just 23 per cent of the votes attempted to determine who will govern the country by seeking to ensure self-serving Lib Dem ambitions are guaranteed. Democrats? Don't make me laugh.

From: GC Wright, Fieldside Court, Tadcaster.

AFTER 13 years in power, Mr Brown, on behalf of his party, suddenly became enthusiastic about proportional representation, which, of course, in no way concerned his own personal position and ambitions.

The present system is clearly unfair in that the number of seats earned does not reflect the overall number of votes cast, but those Labour MPs who are numerate will know that, with proportional representation, their numbers would be drastically reduced.

However, perhaps, we might be asked about other glaring and

ridiculously unfair anomalies in our system.

An examination of the figures shows that without Scottish MPs, the Tory Party would have a majority of 20 seats. The fact that those from north of the border can decide many issues in the rest of the UK, but which in no way affect their own constituents, is something on which I feel certain the electorate, certainly in England, would have a strong view, which would hardly need a referendum to determine the outcome.

From: Fr Neil McNicholas, St Hilda's, Whitby.

IS it just me, or is there now definitive proof that the inmates are running the asylum?

I have just been watching the news (following Mr Brown's Monday evening statement) and Lord Adonis (Labour) – echoing similar statements from a succession of Labour and Lib Dem spokesmen over the weekend – said: "On Thursday, the British people decided not to give the majority vote to any one Party." To his credit, he said it with a completely straight face.

The election involved voting for a Party and, in the event, it was the Conservative Party (for good or bad) that won the greater number of seats – there's no arguing with that. It may not have given them a majority in the House of Commons, but it was a winning vote in terms of the greatest number of seats won by any of the Parties involved.

To say otherwise is akin to the situation of one football team beating the other but then having the other side declared the winner because they still had 11 men on the field.

What is the point of playing the game if having the winning score means nothing?

From: James Rush, Old Brompton Road, London.

THE UK may be facing the same problems as we did on May 5, but for the vast majority of us there is one overlong piece of cheer news – natural justice has been done and the architect of our problems has paid the price for his behaviour.

With the demise of Gordon Brown, we will finally be rid of the most recklessly profligate and incompetent politician that this country has ever had to suffer. Even Edward Heath looks able when compared to the disgraceful member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Just let these poor birds get on with their lives

From: Lou Dawson, Church Street, Burton Pidsea, East Yorkshire.

I WAS both saddened and disappointed on seeing the photograph of the red kite (Yorkshire Post, May 1).

The unfortunate bird had large wing tags fitted to the leading edges of both wings. These tags will have an adverse effect on the airflow over the wing surfaces at a point of maximum lift. It was degrading.

Finally, the poor creature had what appeared to be an aerial protruding from its back. I ask why.

If we don't know enough about these birds after all the years of investigation, the people responsible have perpetrated on these poor creatures. Then let's say enough is enough. Why do we allow this kind of persecution? Surely it must be unlawful. I wonder what the RSPB has to say about it.

On the television we have seen tiny birds caught up and hanging in mist nets, pulled out, bagged up, weighed, ringed and released. I bet the birds enjoyed that. What are the people who cause this kind of indignity thinking about? I have a pretty shrewd idea what is going on in the bird's mind.

Why can't the people concerned do as most people do – feed and protect them and leave them alone to get on with their lives.

I can see the sense behind the actions of a gamekeeper friend who for some years has been feeding red kites and is still refusing to tell anyone where they are living.

Go back to real punishments

From: Michael Booth, The Birches, Bramhope.

WHEN are the members of our judiciary going to come down from their ivory towers and start living and thinking like ordinary people?

I was thoroughly disgusted last week when I read of the convicted burglar who was on bail when he was re-arrested after committing an offence of assault. He re-appeared before the Court and was again granted bail, after the court had heard that there was nobody to look after his pet Staffordshire bull terrier.

One wonders what action the judge would have taken had the accused been on a charge of rape or murder. Would he still have granted bail?

Come back the judges of 30 or 40 years ago, who used to dish out some real punishments.

Service loses its direction

From: Kenneth A Webster, Abb Scott Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire.

EVER since the days of the late, lamented Sammy Ledgard, there has been a direct bus from Halifax to Leeds via Stanningley and Bramley. Until now!

Some bright spark at First Bus has re-routed this service up hill and down dale through Farsley and Kirkstall, and should be made to make this journey, all day, every day for a week, making sure the bus has its full complement of screaming kids in their tanks, the i-podders and those on their mobile phones.

The question is: why, after all these years?

Public service? They've forgotten the meaning of the phrase.

Prescription for improvement

From: Roger M Dobson, Ash Street, Cross Hills.

HOW interesting it was to read that Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing was advocating, as I have done for years, that heroin should be given to addicts on prescription.

What a saviour in NHS costs, what a reduction in crime.

I trust that his edict will be hailed and taken up.

Hot news

From: Ruthven Urquhart, High Hunsley, Cottingham, East Yorkshire.

SO, when is our long, and "hottest summer on record" likely to start? I need to know when I can safely return from Iceland, so as to set up our advertised, yet unclaimed, barbecue!