CABINET RESHUFFLE: TONY Blair has indeed botched his latest Cabinet reshuffle (Echo, June 18). The worst of his shambolic half-baked after-thoughts is the abolition of the post of Lord Chancellor.

Britain has had a Lord Chancellor for well over 1,000 years. How dare Mr Blair sweep history aside without even asking the people of this nation what they feel about it? It is reported that the Queen is not pleased and I am not surprised.

If Mr Blair sees the post of Lord Chancellor as unnecessary, then let him explain his point of view and give others the chance to argue the opposite.

Casting tradition aside in such a summary manner may seem the modern thing to do, but tradition is made by and belongs to the people of the nation. It is part and parcel of what makes us distinct from any other nation.

No single person, even if he is the Prime Minister, has the right to do away with an office that has served sovereign and country for over a millennium. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

ROTHMANS

AS an employee of Rothmans, a couple of years ago I wrote to Darlington Borough Council leader John Williams to ask him to back our fight against the unjust ban on the export of high tar cigarettes to countries outside the EU.

Mr Williams's reply was that he could not do this as it was against the Labour Government's policy.

As an elected representative of our town, I felt that he should have been looking after the interests of his people rather than following the party line blindly. He is now saying how disastrous the closure of the Rothmans plant is and how terrible that 500 people are out of work. Perhaps he should have thought of this earlier.

The same could also be said of Alan Milburn who, as Health Minister, had a conflict of interests at the time, but as Mr Milburn was elected to fight for the people of Darlington before he became a minister, he should have foreseen the position he would be placed in by representing a town whose major employer was a cigarette manufacturer, and asked Mr Blair to give him a different position within the Government, thus allowing him to try and help the people whom he was elected to represent.

I am a Labour supporter of many years so this is not a politically-motivated attack. - K Walker, Darlington.

EUROPE

TO many Tees Valley residents, the internal workings of the European Union in Brussels and Strasbourg are of little consequence.

Yet unelected bureaucrats in Europe are working for a European Constitution that would have huge implications for Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland councils.

Laws and regulations ranging from transport to social policy, from the environment to law and order, would be decided by pen-pushers in a foreign country, rather than by elected representatives of Great Britain.

Local councils in Tees Valley would be jumping to the demands of European diktats. British politicians may not rate highly in the popularity stakes but at least voters can kick out those who fail to deliver, which they cannot do with those who run the European Union.

Given the Labour Government believes in holding referenda on other constitutional changes, from elected mayors to regional assemblies, why shouldn't voters in Tees Valley also be given a voice on these major constitutional upheavals?

This is why I am calling for the Tees Valley councils to pressurise the Government to hold a national referendum on the proposed European Constitution. I would encourage voters across the whole area to lobby their local Labour MPs to support this call.

It's your country, and the decision on who governs it should be your choice. - Coun S Smailes, Stockton.

YORK MINSTER

Surely the solution to York Minster's debt problem isn't admission fees but a yearly grant from the National Lottery?

A Yorkshire institution which was once very lovely has become yet another rip-off. - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

IT is nice to see that the unelected North-East Assembly is pulling out all the stops to engage the public in the forthcoming debate and ensure that both the Yes and No sides are fairly and evenly represented.

How many members of the public attended the public debate recently in Stockton where a member of the Welsh Assembly spoke from the Yes perspective? You guessed it - none.

Had the North-East Assembly asked anyone from the Welsh Assembly to give a balanced view from someone disillusioned with Welsh devolution, or from any one of the many campaigning groups now set up to demand the abolition of what has become an expensive and ineffective talking shop? You guessed it - no.

It seems that it may take natural selection of Darwinian proportions to make this leopard lose its spots. - Neil Herron, Sunderland.