WOULD Councillor Clee care to cast his mind back some 30 years? Perhaps he can recall the elimination of the historic county of Rutland, the ancient Ridings of Yorkshire and the forced conjoining of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, much to the dismay of their citizens.

Let me remind him who was responsible for all that - the Tories. He may also recall subsequent Tory ministers who did their best to stifle any initiative shown by county councils and to ruthlessly control budgets with effects we still see today. Now tell me the Tories are champions of ancient local institutions!

The move towards regional assemblies may be on the cards but at least we might have more of a voice than was the case in the Thatcher/Major era.

This is just another example of empty Tory propaganda, like their fatuous idea of being "in Europe, but not ruled by Europe" i.e. "we'll only take the bits we like and save the pound - but only for five years, and we reserve our right to about-face after that".

People who really wish to save the pound and preserve our traditional counties have only one choice currently and that is to vote for the UKIP.

A REECE,

Worcester.