Letter: Contempt for Wales

Sir: The Labour Party must face up to some difficult truths following their disastrous result in the Welsh Assembly elections.

It seems Mr Blair's decision to treat the Assembly as a second-class institution in comparison with the Scottish Parliament and proposed Northern Ireland Assembly has failed to please devolutionists and anti-devolutionists alike. His disastrous insistence on installing his own candidate as leader even though the members of the Wales Labour Party strongly preferred someone else is contemptuous.

For many years, the Labour Party has taken Wales for granted and Downing Street and Millbank have treated the Welsh people in an arrogant and patronising manner. Last week the voters of Wales responded to a degree no one could have predicted. The Government should give Wales parity with Scotland and start treating the Welsh people with some overdue respect.

TIMOTHY HUW DAVIES

Brighton, East Sussex