SIR,—Trimmer is completely wrong when he says that the Liberal
Party has nothing to say to the electorate.
Would he agree that it matters if the people of a democratic country lose both interest in, and respect for, the institution of Parliament?
That is what is happening now. Liberals claim that it is due to the power of the party machine, combined with our absurd electoral system where everyone expects the govern- ment of the day to be chosen in a handful of marginal seats. The MP, who used to be an important national figure, has already become, in the eyes of his constituents, 'an overpaid welfare officer.'
Would he agree that it matters if the ac- cepted rights of the individual are steadily whittled away? This is what is happening now. The Liberals, through Lord Samuel's 'Liberty of the Subject' Bill, rejected by Labour and Conservative Governments in turn, have twice since the war tried to stop this trend.
Would he agree that it matters if the standard of living of the people is being jeopardised by vested interests too powerful for either party to tackle? That is what is happening now.
The Liberal Party case is that, under a veneer of physical well-being (confined to those who are powerfully organised, and run- ning the risk of being upset by countries whese workers at all levels seek expansion raffle; than stability as a goat), the rights, privileges and responsibilities of the individual are being steadily cut down, and the Liberal heritage. won by the Liberal Party, constantly eroded. The Liberal Party believes, moreover, that its strenuous efforts to act as a resistance movement to these forces which are prepared to stand by while freedom suffers will for cer- tain one day be rewarded.—Yours faithfully, GEOFFREY ACLAND Chairman, Liberal Party Executive Hundhow,Burneside, nr, Kendal, Westmorland
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