SIR - Graham Hoyle (T&A, November 30) suggests that Gerry Sutcliffe MP is wrong to claim that his first duty is to support the Government rather than to represent his constituents.

This idea does not stand up to scrutiny for a variety of reasons which can best be explained by an example.

Our current MP - Philip Davies - is a conscientious constituency member but he believes that we would be all be better off if we left the European Union.

This opinion is certainly held by many of his constituents but by no means all, so whatever he says on the matter will inevitably upset somebody.

Should David Cameron ever come to form a government he will have been elected in no small part because of his party's hatred of all things European.

This means that when a vote is taken to leave the Union, it would be almost obligatory for Mr Davies to support his government.

According to Mr Hoyle's reasoning, I would then be writing to you to demand that Philip Davies MP represent his constituents and not "toe the party line."

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley