OUR MP Hugh Bayley protests that he has clinched extra funding for the City of York from the Government and that arguing about averages is pointless (Letters, July 31).

He fails to say what he and his fellow English Members of Parliament are doing about the biggest scandal of all - the so-called Barnet Formula - whereby Scotland gets £1,300 more expenditure per person than England.

The Scottish Parliament is thus able to pay for personal care for pensioners in care homes, give their teachers a 21 per cent pay rise and exempt their university students from tuition fees.

No English MP can vote on Scottish affairs nor be a minister in the Scottish Parliament and yet ours is dominated by Scots.

John Prescott, the "mouth of the Humber", is wasting his time pushing for a Yorkshire Assembly. What we need is an English parliament. Was he not born in Wales and ought to be Dai Prescott?

George Heppell,

Riseborough House,

Rawcliffe Lane, York.

Updated: 10:10 Friday, August 06, 2004