Democracy in peril!

5.13.55pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 13th May 2004

Sirs,

It is with dismay that I read that the Conservatives in the house of Lords have joined forces with Labour to place planning decisions in the hands of unelected regional quango's rather than in the hands of the elected representatives of the people.

Once again we are seeing local democracy destroyed in the interest of quick fixes behind closed doors in smoke filled rooms.

Labour promised that Regional Government would mean powers being redistributed from the centre, and yet before we have even voted on Regional Government they are planning to cut the influence of local communities over the decisions which affect their lives.

As for the Conservatives, they do not even pretend to support Regional Democracy. They have voted for a clear policy of scrapping yet another democratic process and replacing it with a quango.

As our democracy continues to be eroded, only the Liberal Democrats are standing up for local communities making decisions locally about the issues which affect their lives.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Iain Donaldson

Liberal Democrat