BEFORE you cast your vote for a regional mayor it is worth considering whose idea it is to have one.

The answer is: the central government in London.

It may come as a surprise to many that you, the ordinary person, do not have a constitutional right to a local vote.

You are only allowed a vote in, say, local elections because the London- based government allows you to have that vote.

This is why London is able to impose a mayor on you, whether you like it or not.

It makes all the decisions.

You cannot make the decision whether or not to have a regional mayor, that decision is made in London.

The whole idea of the London-based government is to keep power away from the ordinary person.

If this was a benign central government, one that governed fairly for all of the people and the regions, then this may not matter too much.

But over my lifetime – and this year I reach 70 – everything that affects our lives has been sucked up by London.

London gets the lion's share of investment and all the best jobs have been sucked into the London region.

The government may pretend that it is imposing a mayor on us to improve our condition.

In truth it is imposing a mayor on us so that it can keep control of that person, so it can keep control in London.

Jim Woods, New Brighton