Democratic deficit

SCOTLAND will lose seven MPs in proposals to reduce the number of parliamentarians representing the United Kingdom to 600 (your report, 13 October). But is this enough?

The European Union has 737 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) controlling our laws and almost every aspect of our lives.

Unless we leave the EU, we do not need so many UK politicians and their staffing levels and escalating expenses to legislate for us.

We also have 750 in the House of Lords, 658 MPs, 129 MSPs, 60 Welsh Assembly members and 30 in Northern Ireland’s Legislative Assembly. An unsustainable 1,627 in total. In addition there are more than 22,000 councillors at local authority level across Scotland, all of whom are generously paid.

We need to make significant cuts in our expenditures. But where is the political party with the guts to propose this?

At least I can dream while the “gravy train” rolls relentlessly on at the taxpayers’ expense.

Clark Cross

Springfield Road

Linlithgow