SIR – The Police and Crime Commissioner, elected on a derisory turnout, is supposed to be independent, but ours obviously is not.

Mark Burns-Wlliamson has the gall to admit he needs a £53,000 deputy (T&A, March 18), whom he will only choose from a list of fellow members of the Labour Party.

And he proudly boasts and claims that as he donates five per cent of his £100,000 to charity, he should not be expected to accept a pay cut, although he feels he is unable to do the job properly without help.

Sack him if he is incompetent and install the one who came second in the poll.

Philip Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley