LETTER: Why Blair must not ignore core voters

Sir: What a wretched choice the two main parties present to the electorate. Both supported the disastrous Iraq war and are committed to spending billions on keeping British troops there. Both parties will slavishly follow American foreign policy. Both vilify immigrants and asylum seekers at every opportunity. Neither party is prepared to defend long-standing civil liberties; both are committed to compulsory ID cards. Whichever party is elected, the privatisation of public services (by whatever name) will increase. Both parties will retain low levels of income tax and high levels of regressive indirect and local taxation, which hit the low-paid hardest. Income inequality will continue to spiral.

It's true that parties such as the Lib Dems offer a genuine and positive alternative, though under our voting system they have no realistic chance of power. I predict this election will see the lowest turnout in modern times, and the return to power of a man who has taken Britain into an illegal war, and who despises Parliament, the rule of law and civil liberties. Two cheers for democracy?

DAVID WESTBURY

Lydney, Gloucestershire