SIR - I must commend David Barnett for his excellent column on May 29 highlighting the erosion of our civil liberties in what is a very serious situation for both ourselves and our children.

One piece of draconian legislation David alluded to was control orders - house arrest to you and me - which was part of the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The Government deemed this legislation necessary because the Lords had advised them that their policy of locking up foreign terror "suspects" and holding them indefinably was unconstitutional - which of course it was.

This legislation was rushed through Parliament in record time and was implemented so quickly that MPs discovered when they were voting that sections of the Bill had yet to be written!

The legislation gave the Government powers to put foreign suspects under house arrest, but they then thought that might be considered racist so they made the law applicable to everyone, including British citizens!

This is the mentality of the people who govern us. The Government say we must be protected from terrorists, but who is going to protect us from this Government?

Jason Smith (UKIP Bradford & District chairman), Woodlands Avenue, Queensbury