Letter Berwick Advertiser

Agreeing to Assemblylike signing blank cheque
Sir — Enclose a copy of a letter sent this morning to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister anent the Brochure on the Regional Assembly.

Don’t know if it is of interest or use to you.I have this morning received your brochure regarding the North East Assembly, which has left me frankly appalled.

Unless I have misunderstood it we are expected to vote for or against an Assembly without having any legislation relating to it having passed through Parliament (though I agree you will have a draft Bill - which may or may not bear any resemblance to the final Act). As a child I was taught never to sign blank cheques. What else is this.

Secondly I do not appreciate the bias of your literature, though I suppose that was to be expected - in the first place let us take the photographs - in this semi-literate age probably all that some people who still have a vote can understand.

Picture 1 - young white smiling upwardly mobile looking female executive saying yes -

Picture 2 - older looking black unsmiling woman with council housing background saying no -

Picture 3 - again young upwardly mobile looking man saying yes -

Picture 4 - decidedly grumpy looking elderly man saying no -

Picture 5 one black and one white young man, white thumbs up, black thumbs down, with furthermore a t-shirt on the white man meant to imply I love Tony, by concealing the right hand side of his shirt with his arm.

This is blatant labour propaganda (though I suppose that is what one can expect) with an appeal to the latent racism in this country of which the report into the police after the murder of the young black student in Lewisham referred.

My third point is that I believe that as a voter I should have a clearer idea of what the costs of this Authority are going to be. It clearly states how much money the Government proposes to put into the new Councils.

Could I please have details of how much is currently being paid to the separate Councils listed in your paper, and also a note on the potential redundancy payments including costs of pension upgrades etc., to be made to those at District and County level.

I feel sure that the office you have established in a back street somewhere in Northumberland (on the lines of the one you have in Wigton for Cumbria and the North West) will have worked something out on this last point.Finally could I as a taxpayer who is no doubt helping to finance this Shadow office and the high salaries involved in the above office, know where it is, and also if possible who the new Regional Officers are.
MARGARET CM MARSHALLVia e-mail