LETTERS
From Charles Fletcher-Cooke, MP, Mrs Yvonne C. R. Brock, the Rev D. J. McClure. G. Yates, the Rev Edmund Havi- land, Gerald B. Rose, Peter Cadogan, Mar- gery Rinehart, C. M. Woodhouse, A con- valescent Greek, S. G. Lawrence, W. W. Kilby, J. E. Oxley, W. Waddington, T. C. Skeffington-Lodgc.
The need for a Bill of Rights
Sir: There is everything to be said, and your leading article (19 July) says it, for requiring that fundamental alterations to our constitution should require a two- thirds majority in Parliament. But how do you propose to achieve this or any similar `entrenchment'?
No Parliament can bind its successors, though several have made the attempt. By the Treason Act of 1495, Henry VII tried to protect his followers from future Acts of Attainder, in case he were succeeded by a Yorkist king. It is generally held that these provisions were quite nugatory.
In the same way, an Act providing for a two-thirds majority would itself be liable to repeal by a subsequent Act pas- sed by a simple majority. Under our con- stitution there can be no entrenchment with- out a revolution, albeit bloodless.
Charles Fletcher-Cooke House of Commons, Westminster, London SW I
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