JOHN Phelps questions the democratic credentials of the Conservative Party in his letter Democratic? August 9.

His grounds for doing so is the claim that Tory MPs have a tendency to vote for what their leader wants them to. In this case with respect to the repeal of the Hunting Act.

Surely MPs from all parties do this. That does not make our system undemocratic it is merely a feature of our party system.

There is clearly a democratic mandate for a vote on repeal.

Interestingly, an opinion poll conducted prior to the election showed that only a minority of voters opposed such a vote being held.

Giles Bradshaw

Rose Ash