AS a citizen of the UK, I don’t like the fact that we allowed the devolution debate to reach the point where one of the home countries has voted on whether to become independent. A lot of the reasons behind it come from the continued centralisation of power and wealth in London and the south-east to the detriment of all the remoter regions of the UK.

In almost every sphere of life there is now a view from London that is different from the view from the regions.

For example, the London view says that London has £40bn of exports and needs huge investment in transport infrastructure while the highest rate of unemployment is in regions like the North-East.

The view from the regions would be that London’s £40bn exports are just about equal to those officially ascribed to an “unknown” region of the UK due to the inadequate national collation of data.

There are 120,000 unemployed in the North-East compared to 518,000 in London and the south-east. This makes me think where exactly it is that all those benefits scroungers live?

Londoners receive £5,203 more per head on capital investment than people in the North-East.

This is further evidence that London’s growth is coming at the detriment of the regions. In the North-East, people are still dying because the main artery road the A1 is not a dual carriageway north of Newcastle. Those poor souls are the ones that have paid for some of London’s projects.

Is it any wonder the more remote regions from London are looking towards independence or at least devolution?

We in the North-East had the opportunity for greater autonomy and rejected it. Because we have an altogether different view to London, and we should have taken our opportunity to frame our own future.

Dr Stan Higgins, North-East Process Industry Cluster, Redcar.