REGIONAL GOVERNMENT: WHAT is becoming very clear is that the Government is stalling and obfuscating on the issue of regional government because its agenda is being slaughtered on all fronts.

I was surprised that what was billed initially at the launch last year in Durham Castle as an information campaign has now suddenly become a soundings exercise.

The tactics are deliberate, to keep the whole elected regional government as vague as possible and say we are "listening and consulting".

Why? Because the Government knows that what has been offered is an insult. Ill-thought out, ill-conceived and ill-advised.

The fact that it thought we would ever buy "Prescott's Dream" and believe the propaganda is an insult to everyone who actually elected this Government. A Government that treats the people and democracy with such contempt.

Last Thursday I heard, in Mr Prescott's delivery, more maybes and probablys than I have previously heard.

His body language was uneasy and he was irritated and bad-mannered with questioners, who are quite rightly asking to see what they are attempting to sell us.

We are six months away and we still do not know what we are being offered.

So here is a prediction. The Government is facing massive losses in the European and local council elections. It has been forced to do a hugely embarrassing U-turn after immense pressure from people demanding a referendum on the European constitution, a referendum which the Government will never win.

It will not be prepared to face three certain defeats in the assembly referendums in the autumn and then limp mortally wounded into a General Election in the spring.

So if the referendum is postponed or cancelled don't seem surprised. But the millions wasted on this pointless, deceitful exercise will never be got back from the drain down which it has been poured.

It seems like everytime we start putting on the boxing gloves for a referendum fight the opposition run a mile (or its metric equivalent). - Neil Herron, North-East No Campaign, Sunderland.

R HARBRON (HAS, June 24) rejects the proposed regional assembly and states that "we do not want another layer of politicians".

The new assembly will have only 25-30 elected members, who will be accountable to the people. They will be removed if the region does not believe they are up to scratch.

Thus if they do not listen to the people they will not be re-elected. The same cannot be said of the civil servants and quangos who run the region at present. - S.White, Bishop Auckland.

HEALTH SERVICE

MICHAEL Howard talks of choice in the NHS. What he actually means is that he'd take £1.5bn from the NHS and set it aside explicitly to pay half the bill of any wealthy patients wish to jump queues.

Why should someone who is wealthy receive treatment quicker than anybody else? This is surely a breach of the average man or woman's human rights.

And in any case, the private sector firms and insurance companies have had to reduce their prices to attract more custom because the NHS has improved so much that people are using the service more.

The NHS is for all, and should be free on the point of service paid from public taxation, as this Government has done. - Tom Blenkinsop, Marton.

RACISM

PETE Winstanley, (HAS, June 23) is right to make the point that it is wrong to define Englishness in terms of skin colour.

Racists who make the claim that they are defending our "rightful heritage" or our "traditional way of life" have no place in our society.

However, racism doesn't only affect black and Asian people. In County Durham, our largest ethnic minority is the gypsy and traveller community, and they are also victims of the type of discrimination experienced by black and Asian people.

Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, recently described discrimination against gypsies and travellers, as the "last bastion of respectable racism".

Durham County Council is committed to doing all it can to tackle racism directed against the gypsy and travelling community, and to promoting greater awareness of their culture and way of life. Recently, Durham County Council's travellers' education service, on behalf of the British Council, co-hosted delegates from across Europe on a course, to share good practice, and our travellers' liaison service is currently reviewing how we support gypsies and travellers, living within our communities.

However, Durham County Council cannot defeat racists on its own. We need everyone living in the county to show respect for gypsy and travelling people and their way of life, and to have zero tolerance for those who do not. - Coun John Davies, Cabinet Member, Portfolio for Community Development & Consumer Services, Durham County Council.

BENEFITS

IN response to the article (Echo, June 23) concerning unclaimed benefits by people diagnosed with terminal cancer, I would like to advise that the Government is committed to helping people with the extra costs they may face as a result of their illness, and to raising awareness of the benefits available to them, at what is obviously a stressful and worrying time.

The Department for Work and Pensions recognises the valuable service that Macmillan nurses provide to cancer patients by not only providing valuable care, but also ensuring that customers are aware of all social security benefits they may be entitled to address their needs.

We are taking steps to improve the receipt of benefits in a targeted and well directed way and will continue to work with partners, including local authorities and welfare rights organisations to do this, as they play a significant part in increasing awareness and take up of disability living allowance (DLA).

This is complementary activity to the work that the department undertakes itself to publicise benefits information. Steps being taken to improve and speed up the claim process for attendance allowance (AA) and DLA include simplified and shorter claim forms and a faster, dedicated claims process for terminally ill customers. We want anyone entitled to a benefit to claim what is rightfully theirs. - Jackie Woods, Department for Work and Pensions, North-East Press Office.