Labour's North Yorkshire mayoral victory remarkable given the lack of campaigning - Yorkshire Post Letters

Re: Mayoral clean sweep for Labour (Page 1, The Yorkshire Post, May 6).

Labour's win in the North Yorkshire Mayoral election is remarkable given their lack of campaigning.

Whilst I received election material directly from Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, I had nothing direct from Labour. Yet York Outer is a seat Labour are reported to have a good chance of winning so surely they should allocate resources.

The unusually high Labour vote for their candidate in rural areas was surprising, perhaps owing something to farmer's discontent. Is that a portent for the General Election?

The Conservative campaign was odd. Maybe that cost their candidate votes. Buying the Grand Hotel at Scarborough was a bizarre proposal and much as I'd like to see new rail and bus services the proposed funding was magic money tree stuff. As for free parking for every town and city, that idea belonged on the Monopoly board.

The record of directly elected Mayors is patchy, to say the least, so it will be interesting to see how the next four years work out. I suspect elected mayors' limitations will see more places following Bristol's example, and abolishing the post altogether.