FOLLOWING demographic changes to the population and electorate over the past few years, it is reported that the populations of Yorkshire and Scotland are now about equal at 5.34m.

This appears to raise a number of interesting issues about the position of these two regions of the UK and their voice in the future of our country.

While we hear a lot about the opinions of the Scottish Nationalists regarding their views on remaining a part of Great Britain, there may be an equal and opposite reaction.

While referendums provide a great way for the whole of the electorate to express their view, and in the privacy of the ballot box, a future vote on Scottish independence could be held across the UK, with all voters free to express their preference for keeping our nation as one.

I would not expect that there would be a great deal of interest in Yorkshire becoming independent, but would it not be reasonable for the voters and taxpayers in our region to have a say in an another equal number of people wanting to flounce off for their own political ends?

Jim Lumb, Leyburn