DEFEATED Tory candidate Peter Laws asks why unitary authorities "were not mentioned" in the North East Assembly referendum of 2004, and why I "did not speak up" about it (HAS, Sept 3). His claims are untrue.
Unitary authorities were not only "mentioned", they were on every ballot paper in Durham and Northumberland. Perhaps Mr Laws was elsewhere at the time. If he did vote, he has a bad memory. And I did "speak up" about the unitary issue many times.
Liberal Democrats have consistently argued for smaller rather than larger local councils. We brought in the slogan "Closer to the People" for Wear Valley District Council (WVDC) more than 15 years ago. We argued for Wear Valley to be a unitary authority in its own right - rejected by Tory and Labour governments.
More recently, Wear Valley LibDems have argued for districtbased councils in County Durham rather than a single council for the whole county - the latter now being imposed upon us by Labour.
Chris Foote-Wood, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham.
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