THE Press of January 8 reports that Hugh Bayley MP “blasts fixed-odds betting terminals the crack cocaine of betting”.

Is this the same man who voted in favour of the 2005 Gambling Act?

An Act which, in spite of evidence presented at the time showing that these machines posed a risk of causing problem gambling, did no more than impose a limit of four machines per high street premises (a position viewed by many at the time as being a trade-off between the Government and the betting industry)?

Does the present view of York’s MP represent a change of mind or is he once again merely following his party’s whip?

I think we should be told.

John Craven, Main Street, Nether Poppleton, York.