18 APRIL 1981, Page 18

Tipping the scales

Sir: It is a little ingenuous of Sir Horace Cutler to suggest (Letters, 4 April) that the fuss about The Romans in Britain did not influence the GLC's decision not to increase its grant to the National Theatre. When writing the original story about this sorry subject for the Sunday Times, I spoke to the chairman of the GLC's arts committee, Freddie Weyer, who admitted without hesitation and in answer to a direct question that The Romans in Britain had tipped the scales against more money for the National when grants were being apportioned. This surely constitutes a 'statement'.

Elizabeth Grice

Sunday Times, 200 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1