SIR – Tragic though the report was (T&A, December 17) on the illegal immigrant who ran down a child in Darwen, Lancashire, while disqualified – and who now the Home Secretary cannot deport under Human Rights legislation – is it a greater tragedy for every law-abiding citizen here that, because of this, our parliamentary democracy has become meaningless?

Whatever laws the Government passes may now be routinely overturned in courts by greedy lawyers and an arrogant judiciary, either here or in Strasbourg.

Both the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and Asylum Seekers were designed to deal with the aftermath of the Second World War and Nazi persecution, not to aid criminals or illegal immigrants in the 21st century by allowing them more rights than anyone in their new host country – and both are completely out of date.

We never had a vote on the Maastricht or Lisbon Treaty, surely now we need a vote on whether to leave the EU altogether – the only possible way to regain full sovereignty and national identity.

D S Boyes, Rodley Lane, Leeds