'Democrat' Cameron's offer a smokescreen to hide failings

What a pity that this great democrat didn't give the people the opportunity to decide whether they wanted this unelected coalition with its brutal attacks on the sick and disabled, the unemployed and the old, the NHS and public services.

That's not to mention all the other heinous measures they have taken to make the poor pay to preserve the privileges of the wealthy and those among them who were responsible for the state we're in.

The truth is that his stance on the EU is designed, firstly, as an attempt to plaster over the divisions within the Tory Party and stave off the Ukip assault.

But secondly, and more importantly, it's aimed at turning people's minds away from the disastrous consequences of his government's punitive welfare cuts and its incompetence in dealing with the country's economic difficulties. Our democracy would be far better served by a general election this year to give the people the right to decide now on whether or not to legitimise the coalition and its policies - not by Cameron's attempts to create a smokescreen to conceal the governments failures.

Bill Banning

Birmingham