IT is with great regret that I see the continual erosion of democracy in our country under New Labour. I strongly believe that every single citizen should be seriously concerned at what is happening bit by bit. I believe that before much longer we will all wake up one day and realise that there is nothing left.

We were promised a freedom of information bill and what we got was a wishy-washy non-event that changed very little.

In the last couple of years we have seen major changes in local government with the relentless move at local and county town halls to executive-style councils.

In effect, these moves were trumpeted as improving local democracy but actually excluded the vast majority of elected councillors and hence their electorate from decision making.

I make no apology for what I highlighted a year ago and that is that these executives need not even include opposition members -- some democracy!

In recent days, we have seen the government leaders attempt to remove two New Labour members from government committees. Why did they want them removed? The simple answer is, they were outspoken and would not follow blindly the policies as dictated by Blair and his cronies.

I find it particularly sad that both out local MPs, Gordon Marsden and Joan Humble, supported the government in the Westminster division. Thankfully, most MPs could see through this attempt at erosion of their democracy and defeated New Labour in this move.

We now see that New Labour is proposing to replace the public enquiry system with a parliamentary body that would make decisions "in principle" on important national projects.

Already, environmentalists have expressed grave fears that the move is intended to gag local protest groups and objectors to controversial schemes. The government has responded by stating that the move is part of reforms to speed up decision-making and construction of developments.

If that all sound familiar, it should. This was the same response used for the changes in local government (and others) and look how much that has destroyed democracy and further excluded the general public.

Is it any wonder that at the recent general election, fewer people turned out to vote and we now have a government with a massive overall majority which was elected by 25% of the electorate. I think this is an indication of what Mr Blair's idea of democracy really is.

John Finlay, Faringdon Ave, Blackpool.