WITH the debate on the recent local elections rumbling on in these pages, I am prompted to ask how much do the results really affect how the councils are run?

Every district council and the county council have a chief executive being paid six-figure sums per year to oversee the running of the councils.

Whoever wins at the ballot box, we still have the same people acting as chief executives.

Therefore, if they are paid to run the councils, what do councillors do? Or, if councillors run the councils, then for what are we paying a king’s ransom to chief executives?

This also applies to Governments. Whoever is in power, we still have the same senior civil servants running things.

Take the Bank of England: the Governor does not change along with Governments and he is the one who fixes the interest rates, for instance, not Government.

KEITH BROOKS Gateley Horspath