SIR - Keith Rayner seems to accept that man-made climate change is happening (T&A, May 22) though his use of inverted commas around facts' is a concern.

However, he still insists that the scientists work for the Government, and few do directly. The recent UN report shows that most are university based in more than 40 countries and they are quite independent of the UK political system.

One of the reasons why the UK government does not intervene as directly as many in Europe is because we have a first-past-the-post system, not proportional representation, and so it can be voted out very easily.

The outcry over road fund tax increases, road pricing, aviationtax and paying for waste, all aimed at changing behaviour and reducing carbon dioxide production, shows the dilemma faced by the Government.

UK democracy, unfortunately, is the art of the possible not the desirable.

Even so, they could do better and I would use cameras to enforce a 60mph speed limit tomorrow, so reducing CO2 from transport by a quarter, but I suspect that it would be political suicide.

Keith Thomson, Heights Lane, Bradford