The Home Secretary’s plans to enable suspects to be detained without trial are surely a contravention of Magna Carta. The 1215 charter required King John to proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbitrary – for example, by explicitly accepting that no “freeman” (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right that still exists under English law today.

Is the destruction of democracy in the name of democracy part of British values?

On the balance of probabilities the May proposals will be yet another failed attempt to circumvent due legal process.

We should expect our elected representatives to protect our rights.

Lee Dalton, Rylands Nook, Weymouth