On July 25, the Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening, announced a £4.5 billion contract with Japanese train manufacturer Hitachi.

This is to build 596 railway carriages and assemble them at a plant yet to be built 60 miles away at Newton Aycliffe, in County Durham.

What were our local MPs, Messers Bayley and Sturdy, doing in lobbying to get this plant located in York, where we just happen to have a carriageworks standing idle?

We all know what York’s Labour cabinet were doing while this contract was being negotiated – closing down local amenities and inventing schemes to tax York residents even more.

Did anyone contact Mr Chiaki Ueda, head of Hitachi and point out that a carriage-building facility was ready and waiting in York with an experienced workforce also available?

Trevor D Scott, Boroughbridge Road, York.