LETTER: Tory attitudes

From Mr Terry Bishop

Sir: It is good to be reminded by Hugh Dykes (letter, 6 January) that the majority of MPs, including Tories, have a positive attitude towards European Union membership. Media coverage often suggests the opposite.

However, Mr Dykes's call for Labour Party support would have a greater resonance with many ordinary members, like myself, if it focused on a call to reform our constitutional and electoral structures, rather than on a single issue such as rail privatisation. It is absurd that we are going into the next Inter-Governmental Conference and, possibly next year, into the creation of new regional tiers of government, without any structured consideration of the impact on Westminster.

Pro-EU Tories in Harrow East may be happy with such a courageous champion as Mr Dykes; there are other constituencies burdened with a Tory of the "little creep" tendency, where the positive European Tories may be less certain in their vote. Some of the same problems occur on the Labour side. Proportional representation would allow a more subtle response to the spectrum of opinion found in all three main political parties.

Yours faithfully,

Terry Bishop

London, WC1