REGARDING MEP David Sumberg's comments opposing regional government (Letters, June 26), as a North-West politician, I would have thought he would have seen at first-hand how we in this region time and time again lose out to London and the South East in terms of resources and investment.

Has he forgotten what happened over the location of the national stadium, the lack of progress in upgrading the West Coast line and the fact that mortality rates in our area continue to be among the worst in the country?

It's long overdue, given developments in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London, that we have a voice of the North West in the North West.

By exercising a vote for a regional assembly in the forthcoming referendum a strong vehicle for driving change is within our grasp.

This, coupled with wider single-tier local government, as we have seen in Blackburn with Darwen, where we have better schools, better social services and better libraries since becoming a unitary council, would lead to improved services and more democratic governance.

JOHN ROBERTS, Bosley Close, Darwen.