SIR – So, Eric Pickles has been given a knighthood for services to Local Government!

What services are those?

Was one playing up to Thatcher, when in control of Bradford, to set the lowest Poll Tax of any comparable authority? A move which made life difficult for his successors as leaders of the council long after he’d done a bunk to Parliament because future funding was based on it.

Was another, overseeing the massive cuts in council grants, which have left many hardworking and conscientious local government workers without a job and seen vital and valued services disappear?

This award is nothing but a further kick in the teeth for the vulnerable and deprived who have lost the support structures only local councils can provide for them.

Peter Ashton, Sandals Road, Baildon