24/07/04

Mr Mandelson would never be content to be a backbench Member of Parliament dealing with the humdrum. He believes he is destined for higher things. This will be the end of his Westminster career as, by his own admission, he has never been popular within the Labour Party.

His comments at his count during the last General Election, "I'm a fighter, not a quitter", still ring in my ears, as he has now certainly quit Hartlepool.

His new job, as I understand it, is to explain to us simple folk the benefits of the EU constitution. Beware readers, remember his words when he had responsibility for the Millennium Dome. He promised its contents would "blow your socks off".

Who will be parachuted in to this 'safe' Labour seat? I hope to have the opportunity to vote for someone like Dari Taylor (Stockton South) who is a full-time MP who represents her town and its people.

We should see an interesting and diverse field of runners and riders in the Hartlepool by-election, which could be held on the same day as the regional assembly referendum - it would save us taxpayers a bit of money. - Geoff Lilley, Hartlepool.

THE nomination of Peter Mandelson as our European Commissioner will bring some frothy comment but we need to look at the bigger picture. Those who support the nomination and claim that he will give the UK a strong voice in Europe need to be mindful of the role of commissioners.

They need to be people with a good grasp of issues and who will approach them in a non-partisan way. They are obliged to be completely independent of their national governments and to act in the interests of the Union. In this way, the commission is able to act as an effective and honest broker. It was the ability of the original commissioners to do this that has made the EU the success that it is.

Peter Mandelson demonstrated that ability when dealing with Northern Ireland and such qualities are needed to ensure that the traditional approach of commissioners is continued into the newly enlarged EU. -Bill Morehead, Darlington.

NORTHUMBRIA

IF Ian Jamieson (HAS, July 23) wants to know more about Northumbria, he should read Julian Atterton's excellent book The Fire of the Kings, when Northumbria was everything north of the Humber, united by Aethelfrith and then by Edwin, who later became the Wide Ruler of all the Saxon kingdoms. - Richard J Counter, Great Ayton.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

SEVERAL excellent letters (HAS, July 22) answered Dr Tom Shakespeare's rather arrogant criticism of the 'no' campaign very well.

Ironically, he contradicted his own argument by mentioning several points that make 'no' supporters so uneasy: the assembly will be an expensive voice without any true power, there will be voter ignorance caused by lack of information, and the fear it will be just another talking shop.

I moved here 50 years ago and Labour was, as it is now, the dominant party. An assembly will reflect the same policies and, in my experience, Labour councils have not been known for their fair distribution of power among other parties.

Also, where the assembly's seat of power will be - Durham, Newcastle or elsewhere - seems to have at least a little importance.

So for me, so far, the 'noes' have it. - S Harnby, Stockton.

WE are getting there. The draft Bill setting out the assembly's powers confirmed Transport Secretary Alastair Darling's announcement that an assembly, if it is set up, will have control over public transport.

The first thing to be done is to end the anomalies within the North-East, where different concessionary fares schemes exist in County Durham and Tyneside, so that people travelling between the two areas experience unfairness at first hand. It is wrong, as Joyce Quinn has pointed out, that your eligibility for concessions is a "postcode lottery" depending on where you live.

The next step would be to extend the same scheme to the North-East as in London, where pensioners travel free. It is wrong that people in London can benefit from this, but not those in this region.

If it did nothing else, a regional assembly would prove its worth by introducing a system of concessionary fares for pensioners and students right across the region. It would certainly benefit a large number of people. - David Taylor-Gooby, Peterlee.

THE Echo comment (July 22) prior to the postponement of two of the regional referendums should help raise public awareness of the gerrymandering that is taking place to ensure a 'yes' vote for an elected regional assembly.

The proponents of an assembly base their campaign mainly on a vague hope that it will benefit our region. Their other reason is that it will make up for the betrayal of the North-East's interests by our MPs and Cabinet ministers, who have failed this region because they take its votes for granted.

The regions chosen for referendums were those most likely to support John Prescott's long-held aim of breaking the country up into regions of Europe, which will remove the name of England from the map. - J Heslop, Gainford.

REGIONAL assemblies are no-go because two out of three referendums have been postponed by the Government, which now wants the people of the North-East to justify the millions being spent on dreaming up the assemblies. Mr Prescott, if it's not good enough for your Yorkshire and Humber voters, it is not and never will be good enough for us. - R Harbron, Norton.

TO understand the necessity of a regional assembly, one only has to take two railway journeys.

The first is from Bishop Auckland to Saltburn and the second is the Metro loop ride from South Shields to North Shields.

The first takes the passenger past old railway sidings, overgrown with weeds and wild flowers as nature reclaims its own from the ravages of a bygone era. The second allows the traveller to see the vandalised results of modern generations, who believed that individuals left to their own devices could achieve Utopia.

Over the past 50 years, the people of the North-East have collectively experienced short periods of affluent growth and long periods of wasteful decline. The future will require a collective approach in initiating objectives, which will benefit everyone living in the region. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.

UKIP

AM I alone in being bewildered by the tactics of UKIP? They fought the Euro elections for a parliament that has no power to decide if Britain should or should not be in the EU. But they did not fight the two recent by-elections for the British Parliament, which has the power to take us out of Europe.

It would appear they are only out to make mischief and their main concern is cleaning behind the refrigerator. - Brian Fiske, Darlington Liberal Democrats.