SIR – May I point out to Ray Wilkes (Letters, March 2) that paying an increase of almost 100 per cent is definitely an extra tax. Travel for pensioners in all other parts of the UK is free all day, not just off-peak or geographically restricted severely as we are in West Yorkshire.

Gordon Brown relies on support from Scottish, Welsh and Ulster MPs to retain power, so he gives £2 per person each to the Scots, £1.75 to the Welsh and £3 to Ulster folk, for every £1 he spends on the English. This is the Barnett Formula set up initially “temporarily” for five years, but still used many years later.

I have paid tax all my life and still do so on my pension. So please don’t tell me I don’t pay towards the meagre concessions I get compared to other UK pensioners.

He missed my point. Why should the English pay for something which is free to pensioners everywhere else in the UK?

D W Murgatroyd, Briarwood Drive, Wibsey