IN his article on an elected Regional Assembly for the North-East, Chris Lloyd asserts: "all forms of proportional representation are complicated, none more so than AMS."

This is a travesty, and far from the truth. AMS (Additional Member System) is a simple system which involves two single "X" votes. This has been used for the election of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, the London Authority and in the recent Mayoral elections.

Far from being complicated, it is very simple. The system of voting favoured by Liberal Democrats for all election, STV (Single Transferable Vote), is even simpler. You put the candidates in order of preference.

STV not only gives a fair result, it also gives the voters a choice of candidates within each party. It gives independents and smaller parties a chance to win seats.

With STV, it is the voters, and not the political party machines, who decide which candidates are elected. STV also gives the voters a chance to remove an unpopular MP or councillor, while still remaining loyal to the party of their choice.

With STV or AMS, every single vote counts, and voters have a real choice. - Chris Foote-Wood, President, Northern Region Liberal Democrats.

THE reservations the Labour Government has placed on the arrangements for a Regional Assembly may create difficulties in getting the majority of the people to support it. I suppose the main surprise is the Geordie Tax, the power for a Regional Assembly to make a charge on all council taxpayers.

When this was floated a few years ago, there were howls of protest, not least from the two Labour MPs, Joyce Quin and Jim Cousins. It will be interesting to see what the views these MPs have now, especially as Joyce Quin has her eye on being the head of the new Regional Assembly.

The next big problem is the abolition of either the county councils or the district councils within Durham and Northumberland. One of these tiers of government is to go. There will be a fight over who it will be.

On a parochial note, I am not sure that the headquarters will be in Durham. The powerful lobby on Tyneside will not be very keen. Neither will the likes of Berwick. Indeed, it might be sufficient to tip them into Scotland. - Stan Smith, South Shields.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

IT is difficult to disagree with much of the recent correspondence arising from the high level of council tax in Wear Valley - the seventh highest in the whole country.

However, little has been said so far about the actual quality of service the public gets for its money. Judged by a series of national performance indicators, WVDC services have been rated as below average in about two-thirds of these assessments. In some cases, they are within the bottom quarter of the national scale - among the worst in the country.

Taking into account the Government Standard Spending Assessment of £90 per dwelling and the actual Wear Valley charge of £166, we are surely entitled to ask: "Where does all this extra money go?"

Although some glimmers of hope may be detected on the horizon in Wear Valley, it still seems fair to ask how this lamentable situation has been allowed to develop in the first place, and what does it all say about leadership? - TR Milburn, Ireshopeburn.

FIRST, let me declare an interest. Although my company does not supply local authorities with computer hardware, the cost of which seems to be at the centre of the teacup storm (HAS, May 7), we do supply software, though not to Durham County Council, which would keep the councillors in touch with their decision-making processes.

Surely members of the public can appreciate that, as councils adopt the new open government ways of running local authorities, thus speeding up the decision-making process, the old paper system would provide very inadequate support. Councillors will become cut off from what their colleagues are doing and the control which they are meant to exert will be weakened.

It is in everybody's interest that these guardians of the public purse be given the best possible systems to enable them to do the job. - Robin Clough, Darlington.

IT has been reported that Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford may ban further direct elections for fear of more rebuffs to Labour from the forces of democracy. A monkey elected in Hartlepool, a maverick in Middlesbrough.

The people are sending a message to all the political elite. Ignore us at your peril. We have been treated with contempt for long enough.

The words of Abraham Lincoln are as powerful today as they were in 1863. Government should be of the people, by the people, for the people. Lest they forget. - Neil Herron, Sunderland.

THE one sure conclusion to the result of local government elections is that we get the administration we deserve.

Regrettably, we find among those who seek election some who appear to be less than resolute in carrying out their honour and duty-bound obligation of putting the greater public interest before allegiance to person or party.

The complacent voter apathy in acceptance of the status quo, as seen by the dismal turnout for local elections, lends credence to the opinion that the electoral system is in drastic need of revitalisation. May I suggest that, rather than being confined to only vote for candidates, provision be made to show rejection of some, thus true opinion will be registered.

I am quite sure voting interest and turnout would improve dramatically and would, hopefully, go some way towards curbing the infuriating arrogance of those believing themselves to be both replaceable and beyond criticism. - AW Dunn, Spennymoor.