SIR - I found your article entitled "MPs angry at £2m cost of assembly" (T&A, June 14) interesting.

Where have these MPs been since 2001? As our Labour spokesman and representative of the Government, Mr Rooney should be asking why have we got a regional assembly, as voters in the North East rejected it by a whopping 77.9 per cent.

I would remind Mr Davies his former Council leader Margaret Eaton was at the very heart of the Assembly, as she was the Chair of the Yorkshire and Humber Association of Local Authorities. New Council leader, Kris Hopkins now represents Bradford on the Assembly.

I'm sure Mr Davies is sincere in his calls to scrap the Assembly; unfortunately none of his party seems to agree and continue instead to support this undemocratic institution.

One of the Assembly's tasks is to deal directly with the EU, bypassing national government, to secure funding for our region. The pro-EU argument is that we benefit from lots of EU regional funding. We may get some funding but offset against the £39 million per day we give to the EU and we're losing out massively.

Jason Smith, UKIP Bradford Chairman, Town Gate, Wyke