I am sick of the hypocrisy about fox hunting, brought to the fore again outside the Brighton Centre this week.

I have no opinion either way myself. However, Tony Blair and his government should act as they frequently say, as a reforming government and have a referendum on fox hunting, recognising it is a high profile matter, worthy of more than party politics and treated as such.

In this way they could settle the matter truly democratically overnight.

The MPs would not like this because it has never been done. However, where in the past MPs were trusted to know what their constituents wanted and vote accordingly, nowadays we find MPs voting as they feel rather than finding out what their constituents want and this has resulted in apathy and reduced voter turnout in modern elections.

A referendum would also have saved a lot of parliamentary time and allowed the commons to properly debate the Civil Contingencies Bill.

Most of the public know nothing of it but it has already been passed by the Commons. Its undebated part two allows the Goverment extraordinary powers whereby we could be brought under police/military rule, property could be confiscated without compensation and previous Acts of Parliament could be nullified.

-Dr JA Chamberlain-Webber, Rottingdean