YVONNE Balakrishnan states, letters 7/5/14, that 40,000 residents of Gwent speak Welsh.

I am sincerely delighted to hear that.

But! For the life of me I cannot see how that figure justifies what must be, the millions of pounds spent on that relatively small percentage of the population.

All recent surveys show that the language is still in decline. It is not good enough to refer to the figures stated without giving due regard to that simple fact.

Daily we are attacked by cuts upon cuts to our public funding.

When one hears of the hardships being experienced by the sick, the elderly, very young, the unemployed and homeless one cannot help feeling that the priorities, as demanded by the Welsh Nationalists, are all wrong.

Surely Ms Balakrishnan, and they, must agree that the failing return for the massive investment in the Welsh language, does not justify any effect on the brutal hardships now in evidence all around us?

Len Price Gwent