Census failure

IT IS being reported that the 2011 UK census may be the last? Why? The reason given by Cabinet minister Francis Maude for possibly scrapping it is that it is in the interests of economy.

The cost of the census is about 48 million per annum against 92m a year for MPs' expenses.

Plainly, the cost of the necessary acquisition of information of the nation's demographics is trifling, given that future plans in all aspects of the economy depend upon it.

The Cabinet statement weakly concludes that future population statistics will be gleaned from "regular checks on numbers using existing databases such as Post Office records and the electoral roll". Such piecemeal collection of crucial information, susceptible to error as it regularly proves to be, is a retrograde step.

ALASTAIR HARPER

House of Gask Lathalmond, by Dunfermline