Interactive: Good riddance to Labour and culture of surveillance

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BOTH Alex Orr and William Burns express disdain for the Liberal Democrats and for their coalition with the Conservatives (Interactive, 13 May).

However, I am in complete disagreement, and greatly welcome the political changes now taking place. In particular, I find it refreshing that at long last we have a government at Westminster that is so fully committed to restoring the civil liberties and freedoms of the people of this country.

For me the past 13 years of New Labour rule has been a complete nightmare of ever increasing authoritarianism and surveillance.

Indeed, this country is now to its shame regarded as the surveillance capital of Europe.

The last government squandered billions of our hard-earned pounds on huge IT systems and intrusive databases of our most personal information, making the old East German Stasi look like rank amateurs.

And I can hardly believe that this should have happened in a country that had fought so hard over the centuries for the freedom of its citizens.

So to me it's brilliant news that the new coalition government is going to ditch ID cards, the vast National Identity database and so much else.

Dr John Welford, Boat Green, Edinburgh

Lib Dems sell the jerseys once again

PAUL Edie does not tell the truth in his recollection of the post-2007 council election negotiations (News, 13 May). As leader of Labour's negotiating team, I well remember our side saying explicitly to the Lib Dems that we wanted to talk policies before positions, none more forcefully than the late Cllr Maginnis who was part of our team.

It was the "Fib Dems" who started to try to barter positions. When we wouldn't play ball, they sold the jerseys and for the sake of their positions went into bed with a party who disagreed on the one thing that needed real leadership for the city, trams – with disastrous consequences for Scotland's capital city.

The Lib Dems in Westminster have done the same, given up PR and Trident for cabinet posts and camera-time and the country will suffer as the city is suffering. The people who wanted positions got them, without caring about the price the rest of us have to pay.