THE people of Scotland are funded per person by this government to the tune of £1,010 this explains why there are no university fees in Scotland or why there are no charges for OAP care home treatment.

In West Oxfordshire the same funding per person is about £490. What it is in Wiltshire I don't know, but I doubt if it is much better.

It is also now common knowledge that the 'new labour' redistribution of wealth scheme means that councils in the north are now funded better than those in the south (Sheffield has a council tax rise this year of 7.5 per cent. Do you think they are getting less services than us?)

Does this mean that those who will struggle to pay yet again 15 per cent tax rise should consider moving north, for a better living.

What we need in Swindon is an MP who will fight our corner over these issues not one who sits on 'Long John' Blair's shoulder liked a stuffed parrot shouting 20 per cent cuts.

If he wants cuts how about the following: the bill for the advisors at Westminster which has trebled since 1997; the pay, pension and wallpaper costs of Lord Irvine; the NHS where there are now hospitals, where there are more managers than there are beds; the immigration policy costs, a policy now out of control; the cost of running Chequers which has doubled in the last two years; the cost of Railtrack or its new name which is spending money so fast, that Beeching style cuts are going to be needed just to keep it going.

T REYNOLDS

Wheeler Avenue, Swindon