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Telegraph | Opinion:

Democracy is being systematically eroded

Sir - So ‘informality and improvisation are British virtues and the last thing we want is a man who is going to give us the details’ (News, Jan 25). Oh really? My husband used to work long into the night ploughing through the endless ’special cases’ that filled his red boxes when immigration minister under John Major. It is an awesome responsibility to determine the fate of a single human being, let alone an entire family. Before God one is accountable and so it is right that the consequences of our actions are not only transparent but defensible.

An effective democracy relies on trust between the electorate and its leaders. The primary duty of any government is to protect its citizens by recognising danger in all its many guises and alerting the electorate. The duty of the electorate is to make known its fears so that lawmakers may address them, ensuring sound government and harmony. Instead, our leaders have ridden roughshod over a people who are renowned for their equanimity. We have seen the law systematically brought into disrepute and our democracy undermined by our elected leader.

Meanwhile, the words spoken 35 years ago by Jean Monnet, founding father of the European Union, have come to fruition: ‘Europe’s nations should be guided towards the superstate without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation.’

Fear and complacency is a deadly cocktail. It is good that Michael Howard has shaken and stirred. My Dutch, Finnish, French and Belgian relatives will be immensely relieved.

Carol Baker, Blandford, Dorse”