'Oh no! not another 'jobs worth!' - Your Letters: June 7

I was rather surprised to read recently that there was a request for 'Commissioner for Older People' when all we need is a common sense Chancellor.

Oh no! not another 'jobs worth' on top of the already 650 MPs and 1,000 Peers, and dozens of Metro Mayors, and dozens of police and crime commissioners, need I go on?

At £100,000 plus a year all we need is the 650 MPs now on holiday, to do their job. What we have is the two the party line, whoever is in power it matters little. Fairness, trust and responsibility have been lost in the process, which ensures poverty in old age as the Treasury advocates, thanks to Ms Reeves. We have lost our free TV licence, £160, our winter fuel allowance, £300, on one of the coldest winters ever, and are being taxed at 20 per cent on pensions above £12,570, which we were not told when we joined the government pension scheme 45 years ago. The so called triple lock has turned into a negative because of the governments last budget.

So all in all, we have a poor public presence and are seen as an irrelevance by the present government.

We need the personal allowance increasing to £20,000 to bring the low paid pensioners out of the tax trap, which has completely negated the triple lock of 4.1 per cent - gone, gone forever by the clever tax trap. 

I cannot think of anyone worthy enough for the job so perhaps we should abandon the idea of a Commissioner for Older People before it grows legs and runs.

M Cooper, West Midlands

NO SURPRISE AT VETO ON RAIL PLAN

It should come as no surprise that Network Rail is attempting to scupper Shropshire's attempt to re-establish a direct London rail link operated by WSWM Railway on an open access basis.

Many areas of the country have benefitted from open access services that enhance existing services or provide completely new ones.

Currently Shropshire passengers must change into unreliable Avanti services at New Street or International stations. 

WSWM Railway wants to run five return trains, directly, between Wrexham and Euston via Shrewsbury.

Shropshire is well used to missing out on funding for rail and bus improvements, while London and the Metro boroughs receive large sums to invest in game-changing infrastructure. 

In London's case these often run massively over budget but the taxpayer always pays. No question.

Recent announcements by the government, promising the nation large amounts of funding for rail upgrades and tram extensions, seem once again to favour those same areas. 

As for Shropshire, caught between the huge financial burden of the North West Relief Road and £39 million debt to the government if cancelled, what hope for bus improvements or mothballed railways being brought back into use?

I heard the passionate speeches made by local MPs during the recent debate on the Bus Bill, but were they heard by Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport?

Time will tell whether we get the same crumbs of funding we got from the previous regime with the cake going elsewhere.

Mike Crump, Bridgnorth

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