CHRISTOPHER Foote-Wood’s reply (HAS ,11 Oct) to my letter the previous day about the effect of an additional layer of governance only goes to highlight the point that the present elected, or prospective, parliamentary representatives take very little or no notice of what we think and say, or, in my case, write.

He says I “also condemn any elected body” when, in fact, my original letter states “[the] further introduction of another level [of government]..... will lead to extensive committees whose only interest will be self preservation”. I made no comment about the existing arrangement of bodies or those that serve on them.

I’m even more disappointed by the fact that that Mr Foote-Wood represents a party I’ve supported throughout my adult life.

Having spent my teenage years in Orpington, Kent, I don’t expect the current Liberal Democrat party to produce candidates of the calibre of Eric Lubbock, the 4th Baron Avebury, who was MP for that town from 1962-1970.

However, can I make a plea to politicians of all persuasions to take note of what the electorate is actually saying, or writing, and not make inaccurate assumptions or twist the facts. Or is that exactly what we should expect?

Barry Jackson, Sacriston