'Nobody really believes any politician when they promise anything at all' - Your Letters: September 24

We have seen a few letters from Roger Watts that talk of plans to fix Britain. Go into any pub or communal space and you will hear many theories of how this can be achieved. The problem is to make progress you must first ask the right questions and do some analysis.

The state we are in is dire to say the very least. Most people sense there is something profoundly wrong but feel utterly powerless to do anything about it. Nobody really believes any politician when they promise anything at all. It is as if they know instinctively that politicians are misleading us, they are simply not able to deliver.

The reasons for this malaise have their origin in 1997 and the election of New Labour. What that government did has transformed UK politics making it less democratic and effective in delivery.

There are two key reasons for this. The first is the New Labour reform that shifted power to experts who head up government funded agencies. An example is the monetary policy committee at the Bank of England to which interest rate decisions are outsourced. At a stroke New Labour moved economic policy out of the hands of politicians whom we elect and gave it to" the experts" this has been modelled in many other areas of public policy. Quangos proliferate wielding power and influence but accepting zero accountability to you and I the voters.

The second key innovation of New Labour was to set up the Supreme Court and place the judiciary in sole charge of who sits on it. In effect the judges were allowed to recruit who they wished, and have sole control of judicial matters including sentencing. This has produced a group think leading to activist judges handing down rulings that the rest of us deplore but can do zero about.

The writing of human rights law into UK law has, effectively ended the common law settlement and put our legal destiny into the hands of international courts. Tangling up legal matters in this way means ultimately that the final arbiter of laws passed by our parliament lies with external international courts. Brexit has not changed this, due to the lack of conviction and clear thinking of those who implemented the agreement with the EU.

To have any hope of progress against the myriad of issues we face, the UK parliament and the political system has to be reinvigorated. Power must reside with parliament, judges must return to their traditional place and the cult of experts brought to the heal of the elected parliament.

A resetting of our constitution away from New Labour reforms. This must return power to politicians elected by the UK electorate. There is then a powerful responsibility to deliver and a nowhere to hide accountability for politicians and their minions. A smaller more efficient and effective, civil service and proper limits for state spending will be priority. The needs of the national population will be most keenly felt and pursued ahead of the counsel of experts in Davos and their ilk.

It is not the personalities that matter, it is what they and those who support them do that matters for us and our future generations.

Martin Bristow, Wolverhampton

SIGNS AREN'T ALWAYS WORTH IT

I've just seen the picture of WM Mayor Richard Parker turning up for the opening of an envelope. Oh sorry, standing with others holding a Willenhall railway station sign.

Large signs can be very evocative. A few years back; having walked across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct my wife and I were confronted by a huge sign, "Trevor". No camera or mobile so no point posing in front of it. Not so many years ago we spent a week on a narrowboat and crossed the aqueduct again. This time we had cameras and mobile phones and.... nothing! The sign had gone.

Our third crossing and the sign had been returned, refurbished. Didn't bother with photos. The sign didn't have the same effect as it had all those years before. As with Mayor Parker posing yet again, it's far from awesome.

Trevor Howard, Wolverhampton

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