LETTERS: `No' vote for referendum

From Miss E. M. Monkhouse Sir: In today's report on the rising pressure for a referendum ("EU referendum pressure grows", 12 December) ,Nicholas Timmins quotes Michael Portillo as saying that a referendum could be "a valuable way" to "heal the party's terrible rift" over Europe. I am concerned that an important departure from our usual political practice should be seen primarily as a convenient way of patching up a ragged party. What a deplorable system of values.

Yours sincerely, ELISABETH MONKHOUSE London, NW11

12 December