I REFER to your recent article in the Bolton Evening News regarding an Elected North West Assembly.

I think I should start by saying that local government in England and Wales is in a complete bureaucratic mess. Instead of just having the old county council structure, we now have metropolitan councils, shire county councils, unitary authorities, combined authorities and some run by mayors.

On top of that, we now have John Prescott inventing another tier of Government and bureaucracy in the form of regional government which, in the case of the North-west, will stretch from Cumbria to Cheshire and Merseyside to Greater Manchester. Clearly, this is intended to model the country on the European style of government and no doubt soften us up for even closer unity with Europe.

What amazes me is that we now have a Regional Development Agency (RDA) whose job is principally to attract investment into the area, which is fine, but the Government have been funding millions to the 80 councillors serving on the Regional Assembly, whose job has been, among other things, to scrutinise the Development Agency, which, frankly, I find appalling.

I suppose this is government by stealth again, whereby they are seeking to introduce unpopular changes behind people's backs! I understand they plan to bring the Development Agency and the Assembly together to form the Regional Government. A Regional Seat of Government has already been identified.

Your article suggests that Bolton won't be affected, but I beg to differ, as I strongly suspect that it will not be long before local services such as education, roads, police and social services are taken away from us and placed in the hands of a remote and disinterested body, miles away.

I wouldn't mind if I thought services would improve, but judging by the past few years, it has been all talk, more taxes and less service.

Regional Government is all about appeasing Europe and "jobs for the boys".

David Newall

Tonge Moor Road

Bolton