Andy Burnham’s piece (Decision-making centred on London caused Britain’s political mess, 9 May) is spot-on in its analysis of the fundamental causes of discontent and despair among left-behind communities. But these are not all located in the north or the Midlands, where metro mayors have a platform from which to articulate the problems, and powers to act.
The south-west has no such voice or representation. We are frequently, and lazily, lumped in as part of the prosperous south, but in reality we have been governed, predominantly, by Tory councils whose priority has been to keep council tax to a minimum by cutting essential preventative services, thereby multiplying the costs of addressing cumulative health, social, and economic problems, and creating misery in the lives of economically fragile households.
We have vast rural and semi-rural low-wage areas where disposable incomes (pensions and wages) are reduced by the high costs of transport, both private and public (where it exists at all). Lynsey Hanley’s piece (By rail or bus, the north is going nowhere, 8 May) identifies the financial burden that car ownership forces on many low-income households who have no other reliable access to jobs and services. The metropolitan model of governance is a remote prospect in the south-west, but there’s a crying need for some form of democratic regional governance which will speak and act on the people’s behalf.
Brenda Weston
Taunton, Somerset
• Paul Mason (Journal, 10 May) identifies the problem of struggling northern towns but I’m not convinced by his solution based on artificial “city regions”. A better approach would include democratically elected regional government, with empowered local government. The two must go together, and be based on real identities not what civil servants imposed back in the 70s.
Paul Salveson
Bolton
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