Sir: I recall that the prime purpose of electing mayors for our major cities, including London, was to devolve greater power to local authorities from central government. This was to engender a new spirit of civic pride, encourage local initiatives on such matters as transport policy and increase accountability to the populations of our cities.

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Sir: In the coverage of the race for London mayor, the difficulties - financial, sexual and political - facing the candidates are described in detail. Susan Kramer, the only candidate with no such difficulties, is the only one who is rarely mentioned. Is the moral that if scandal does not exist, a candidate must create it to obtain coverage?

`The London Mayor will have a budget of pounds 3.5bn as opposed to New York's mayor who has pounds 20bn'

Sir: The letter from David S Gold (23 November) of the Conservative London Policy Unit (urging "anyone thinking of putting themselves forward" - for the position of Mayor of London - "to consider carefully whether they can meet the high standards we expect from Conservative candidates") really does take the biscuit.

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January 1997: Tony Blair includes referendum on creation of a London Mayor and Assembly in election manifesto

A FORETASTE of the campaign to undermine, discredit and eventually crush Ken Livingstone emerged yesterday with savage attacks from both Labour and the Tories.

THE CONTROVERSIAL Welfare Reform and Pensions Act received Royal Assent last night, having survived the biggest Labour rebellion against the Blair Government and a constitutional clash between MPs and peers.

WHILE SOME of us are trying to ensure that Labour's selection process does not lead to a disaster at the polls next May, the media's angle about the London mayoralty appears to have found its feet. At last, the columnists and pundits have decided that it isn't a question of getting conductors back on the buses, or which funding system is best for London Underground.

THE PANTO season may be approaching but that is no excuse for the farcical state into which the race to become first mayor of London is descending. The decision by the leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party to enter the fray - on behalf of his ginger tom-cat - should be a light-hearted episode in an otherwise serious contest between candidates of the highest calibre for a powerful job. The Loony candidate is fast emerging, however, as one of the more credible of the runners, and his entry reminds us that this race evokes feelings of despair as well as amusement.

NICK RAYNSFORD, Frank Dobson's manager in the campaign for London mayor, was criticised by the Tories yesterday after he refused to relinquish his role in piloting legislation on the Greater London Authority through the House of Commons.

The director of the 1990 Trust responds to yesterday's report that Labour has few minority candidates for the Greater London Authority

BLACK GROUPS accused Labour of a "disgraceful betrayal" yesterday after it emerged that just two of the party's candidates for the Greater London Authority are from ethnic minorities.