TONY Blair reminded me of "Comical Ali" with his denial of just how bad the local election results were for his party. It was reminiscent of in the final days of Saddam Hussein's barbaric regime when his then Minister of Information was claiming victory on television as Allied tanks rolled in behind him.

The Conservatives had more than 40 per cent of the vote compared to Labour's 27 per cent which suggests they can win the next General Election with a working majority.

They now control more councils in the North than Labour.

They gained more than 800 seats and now control 23 more councils bringing their total to 205, which is more than three times Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined.

In 80 councils Labour have no councillors at all. I would have to say that it is hardly an achievement for Labour simply because they did not do as badly as the party expected and indeed deserved.

Mr Blair suggests that this result is "springboard for the next election".

He should prove it by calling a General Election and giving the people the chance to decide who should take over when he leaves office.

Des More, Darlington.

THERE is no doubt that the local election results have shown beyond any doubt that there is a sharp North-South political divide.

The Tories are strong in the South, but in the North they remain a minority party.

And here in the North-East they have stopped being despised as they were in the past and have almost become an irrelevance.

The Tories do not run a single major council in the North-East. In fact, the Tories still have no councillors at all on Newcastle, Gateshead and Durham councils. In Tony Blair's own constituency the Tory candidate failed to get even a single vote; to get no votes at all must be some kind of record.

The political fight in this region is between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Thankfully, the extremist BNP failed to have a single councillor elected in the region.

If the Tories were to win a General Election in the future it would mean the people of the North- East would be governed by a Southern-dominated party that we don't vote for.

Paul Rivers, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear.

DUE to the large amount of spoilt papers in the Scottish Parliamentary election, should it be called void? I find it hard to believe the people of Scotland do not have the intelligence to use a voting paper. An independent investigation is needed.

JM Gowland, Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham.