I WOULD like to put the following questions to our York MP, Hugh Bayley.

Does he agree that York residents received from central Government a local authority grant just over two thirds of the average local authority grant per person that was paid to everyone else in the country?

lDoes he also agree that five per cent of £500 is less than five per cent of £800, so that even if each and every local authority increased council tax by the same percentage York would still get less revenue?

Does Hugh Bayley believe that we, the residents of York, deserve less local authority funding from the Government than almost everyone else in the country?

If not, what is he doing about it?

Labour councillors in York know as well as everybody else that the city has consistently got a bad deal from the Government. Indeed, up until the last local elections even Mr Bayley knew this.

Hugh Bayley should, as York's MP, be working with the city council to demand a fair deal for York instead of playing cheap politics.

The city may have a Lib Dem administration and Mr Bayley may well have preferred a Labour one but as the city's MP he should put the city first.

I am sure that if he did, the current administration would work with him for the benefit of York's residents.

Coun Christian Vassie,

Blake Court,

Wheldrake, York.

Updated: 11:24 Thursday, July 22, 2004