Letters: Devolution has been an expensive failure with the Welsh electorate
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SIR – It has been reported that in Wales fewer than 50 per cent of the electorate have ever voted in the Welsh government elections since this devolved body was created.
Yet Senedd numbers are now to increase from 60 to 96, at an estimated cost of £17.8 million. This sum could be better spent on the NHS, social care or education.
Martin Everett
Tintern, Monmouthshire
SIR – Last week the Senedd passed the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.
As a result, from 2026, candidates to the expanded Welsh government will be elected by means of a proportional closed list system, so that the electorate will vote for a party rather than an individual.
In future, should a member of the Senedd follow the example of Natalie Elphicke and switch allegiance between elections, would they then be required to resign and be replaced by the next person down the list at the time of the original election?
Phillip Alderman
Ponthir, Monmouthshire
SIR – Devolution has been a disaster at all levels. Motivated by Tony Blair’s hope to strengthen the grip of Labour, the initiative has backfired, proving divisive and costly. Scotland and Wales have gained little or nothing from their efforts, underperforming in all metrics and costing the English dear. Northern Ireland, always a “special case”, has continued to present an enormous headache which was crudely exploited by Brussels in the Brexit settlement. To think that Scotland and Wales have their own parliaments with all the trappings and administrative costs is ludicrous. The gamesmanship played during the pandemic exposed the desperate cynical aims of the devolved parliaments.
A referendum to return to the pre-devolution situation is regrettably unlikely to take place but we, and not just the English, must do everything we can to stop further transfer of power to the provinces and to strengthen the Union.
Tim Lovett
Claygate, Surrey
SIR – Our fellow citizens in Scotland have in effect been abandoned to the devices of incompetent, mediocre and sometimes corrupt politicians.
It is completely insane to increase the number of Senedd members for a Welsh government that has presided over the never-ending calamity that is the Welsh NHS, in addition to a plummeting economy, lower tourism and poorer educational standards.
The tragedy is that Wales never really wanted devolution; that was New Labour’s idea in 1997.
Millions of British people in Scotland and Wales have been consigned to government by inept politicians from which we have no means of escape.
Wayne Morgan
Tonyrefail, Glamorgan
Defecting MPs
SIR – Shaun Woodward has spoken of the agony of emotions surrounding his defection from the Conservatives to Labour in 1999.
MPs should remember that they are elected on the basis of a manifesto to represent the electorate. Their electoral team is provided and paid for by the party they represent on the ballot paper, unless they are an independent. The leader of the party to which they wish to defect should understand the principles of parliamentary representation, refuse to accept them and tell them to go to their electorate.
Michael Bird
Lancaster
Living with long Covid
SIR – I utterly empathise with Neelam (Features, May 8) and her experience of long Covid.
Before catching Covid-19 in December 2021, I was a disgustingly fit and energetic 74-year old, exercising regularly and active in the community and in my local church. Since then my life has become a shadow of its former self. Every previously enjoyable activity is severely restricted or impossible now, due to debilitating chronic fatigue or a variety of cognitive issues. The (remote) long Covid clinic provided some useful information but referral to them was the extent of the GP’s involvement.
More funding for research is urgently needed for the estimated two million sufferers mentioned in your article.
Jackie Parsons
Horsham, West Sussex
Tired of EVs
SIR – Another reason why EV users are reverting to petrol cars (Business, May 9) may be electric vehicles’ voracious appetite for tyres.
My small EV needed new rear tyres at only 7,500 miles. Neither the VW dealer nor the tyre supplier expressed any surprise or concern. Both stated the obvious, that “the car is rear-wheel drive and very heavy”. So were my two previous, much bigger, petrol cars, and I changed their rear tyres on average at 25,000 miles.
I shall not buy another EV.
Jim Bassett
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
Women who flew
SIR – I was delighted to read Emily Retter’s excellent article (May 11) on “The forgotten women flown on to the D-Day front lines”.
I am pleased to say that at the Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre in Lincoln these courageous heroines are well remembered. RAF Metheringham was an airhead for US Casevac after D-Day and along with our beautifully preserved Douglas Dakota, used by the Americans, the Nightingales are remembered for the crucial role they played flying in this type of aircraft.
Simon Sanders
Lincoln
Lost in adaptation
SIR – John Rattigan (Letters, May 4) believes the film adaptation of The Godfather to be a masterpiece. I found it near unwatchable and spent the last half hour looking at my watch and just about anything except the screen. It is high on the list of worst films I’ve ever seen.
As Mr Rattigan argues that the book and the film are polar opposites in quality, perhaps it’s time that I tried the book.
Ian Crisp
Chelmsford, Essex
Lloyd George’s war
SIR – In his review of my new biography of David Lloyd George, Simon Heffer gave free reign to his traditional pantomime portrayal of this former prime minister. However in so doing he missed the central theme of the book.
I’ve not fallen under Lloyd George’s spell, any more than did rivals and opponents like Andrew Bonar Law and Lord Milner, who nevertheless recognised that his leadership was necessary if Britain was to win the First World War. Mr Heffer repeats the 1918 allegation of Major-General Frederick Maurice that Lloyd George nearly cost us that war by allowing a 0.7 per cent decrease in the number of our soldiers on the Western Front in the year to January 1918. However, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig believed before the anticipated German offensive that year that he had all the men he needed, so much so that he allowed tens of thousands to stay in Britain on home leave.
Making troop numbers the only metric of strength also ignored the great advantage in supply and mechanised warfare that Britain held over Germany, as a consequence of policies driven forward by Lloyd George.
Damian Collins MP (Con)
London SW1
The loaf on the shelf
SIR – Nick Serpell (Letters, May 11) is concerned about the many ingredients found in supermarket white bread, including ascorbic acid which is, quite simply, vitamin C. This is commonly used to speed up the proving time.
I would suggest the increasing inclusion of palm oil in commercial bread is more of a concern.
Alexandra Rous
London SE23
Fallen by the wayside
SIR – Our local council has announced that the grass verges on our road will only be mown three times a year. Most are now several feet high and resemble wildflower meadows. I have no problem with this, and enjoy the bees, butterflies and other wildlife which are of course attracted to the area.
What I am less keen on is the fact that some people have clearly decided to maintain the verges themselves. This means that the road is now a bizarre mixture of short, cropped grass and unkempt jungle. It is neither one thing nor the other, and looks ridiculous.
Is this a problem in other areas?
Kate Pycock
Ipswich, Suffolk
Always fully prepared with a Swiss Army knife
SIR – How can a Swiss Army knife not have a proper blade (report, May 7)?
The main reason my wife married me was that I always carried a penknife. I have never been without one for the last 57 years.
Richard Beaugie
Ashford, Kent
SIR – Back in the 1980s, a new boyfriend gave me a beautifully wrapped small box and was very keen for me to open it. Too soon in our relationship for jewellery, I was mystified. It was a Swiss Army knife and he was so excited to tell me all about the tool functions and how handy they would be.
Wrong. He was soon an ex – as was the gift.
Gill Powell
Wickford, Essex
How cat owners can do their bit for songbirds
SIR – It is helpful to hear Tony Juniper from Natural England acknowledging that cat predation is one of the contributing factors when seeking to address the falling numbers of songbirds in Britain (report, May 6).
However, as your readers note (Letters, May 8), using cat collars with bells is not the most effective of the options available.
Research by University of Exeter, funded by the conservation charity SongBird Survival, has identified what cat owners can do to reduce the natural hunting behaviour of their cat.
First, owners should play with their cats for 5-10 minutes every day to allow them to exhibit their natural hunting behaviour which reduces their motivation to seek out prey. Secondly, they should feed cats with a premium, meat-rich food.
The study showed that cat bells had no discernible overall effect, although the researchers indicated that the impact on individual cats varied widely, suggesting that some cats learn to hunt successfully despite wearing a bell.
Keeping cats in at night also helps songbird populations, and in the breeding season from March to September, waiting a little later in the day to let out the cat avoids the peak time when birds are most active and vulnerable.
Susan Morgan
CEO, SongBird Survival
Diss, Norfolk
SIR – Our most obedient cat leaves birds untouched, but specialises in various vermin, always deposited dead on a special area of the utility room floor where lies a Sunday Telegraph fully opened out from the centre spread.
The deceased victim is always placed on the crease in the middle.
It is then easy for us to peel off a couple of double pages and wrap the body to put straight into the bin.
Chris Mitchell
Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire
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