I HAVE to say that I endorse The Press editorial when it says that the Labour’s decision to appoint its own councillors as chairs of half of the council’s scrutiny committees as smacking of “control freakery” (The Press, May 27).

After creating an extra well-paid Labour executive cabinet member, this latest act is providing additional proof of Labour’s intentions to look after itself at the possible expense of democracy. Also, do committee chairs get an additional allowance, I wonder?

Labour proposed a motion during the last administration to make sure quite rightly that scrutiny committees were chaired by opposition councillors – abandoning these principles when politically expedient is a clear demonstration of hypocrisy in action.

In answering Coun Gillies’s criticism of this decision, Coun James Alexander failed to show any rational justification for this about-turn. He may be comfortable with self-scrutiny, but given Labour’s cynical actions thus far – I would venture that most fair-minded York residents are not!

Nick Love, Deangate, York.