20 MARCH 1976, Page 19

'As driven snow

Sir: Members of the Selsdon Group are in no need of lectures from Patrick Cosgrave on what Mr Powell has or has not said on trade unions—or anything else.

Mr Powell is one of the few politicians who have consistently .spoken out against private coercion exercised by the unions. Speaking in Beaconsfield in 1965, he said: 'The law on picketing, intimidation, contracting out, immunity from prison is not at this day defensible, either in itself or in its economic consequences. When combination to fix the price of labour enjoys no privileges which are denied to combinations

for the purpose of fixing other prices, then the right of free association will be a reality.'

The phrase 'pure as the driven snow' refers to the innocence of the unions in the debate on the cause of inflation.

Stephen Eyres The Selsdon Group, 170 Sloane Street, London SW1