Sir – Last week, I received through the letter box some polling cards so that I and my family can elect the next police and crime commissioner for the Thames Valley area on November 15. Maybe someone can tell me why it is considered the public is sufficiently qualified to vote someone in to such a high-profile and influential position.

Does anyone know who the candidates are, or what their qualifications need to be for such a job? Apparently the candidates all represent a political party and are made up of a barrister, councillors, a magistrate and a salesman.

How do we know if these applicants have the relevant experience to influence the running of a police force in Oxfordshire, or anywhere else? What next? Will we be asked to vote to appoint the next fire chief or head of the NHS?

These are jobs that require a high degree of expertise and experience and to know whether the candidates are right for a particular job is surely asking too much of the general public. Why are we disregarding the comments of someone like Sir Ian Blair, a former police commissioner and policeman for 34 years, whose knowledge of running this large and complex organisation is well founded and who clearly considers this to be a huge mistake. How much taxpayers’ money has been wasted on giving the public a vote they neither need nor probably want? Now, give the public a vote on something that really affects our lives on a daily basis, that underpins the very survival of our country, that wastes enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money, that under-values our legal system and places the UK in massive debt, then that would be a vote worth having — but will we ever get a referendum on the EU?

P.G. Wooldridge (Mr), Boars Hill