CONSTANT announcements of financial doom and gloom on both a local level (council tax increases/health authorities overspending budgets) and a national level (pension crisis/national health collapse), cannot be examined in any real context without us knowing the cost of our two-and-a-half year involvement in the nightmare that is the Iraq war.

Our MP Hugh Bayley voted to take us into the illegal invasion and occupation of another country based on evidence later found out to be false (weapons of mass destruction).

He now owes the people of York some sort of explanation, both ethically and financially.

I ask him to reveal his feelings as to why, two-and-a-half years on, most infrastructure in Baghdad is still shattered with electricity only available for half a day and I ask him to reveal the Government's estimate of the financial cost to this country so far.

That will increase our understanding of why we must work longer, pay more council tax, receive reduced services etc.

Much has happened since you backed the invasion, Mr Bayley. Now, more than half the Iraqi population think that things are worse in Iraq since before the invasion.

It's time you brought us up to date.

Jonathan Charles Bonner,

Huntington Road, York.

Updated: 09:58 Tuesday, December 20, 2005