Sent to the Solihull Times and Sutton Coldfield News

Many letters to me this month concern The Lisbon Treaty, saying the Queen, in authorising the Lisbon Treaty, has failed her Coronation Oath in not stopping the erosion of power away from the UK Parliament. Under our Constitution, a Government must hand to the next elected Government the same power intact. However, this obligation has been eroded by power transferring EU Treaties, signed by consecutive UK Governments. The writers believe that the Queen should stop this erosion.

The Queen as protector of our democracy does her best. For example, the Queen ensures that a Government does not exceed its time in office. A Prime Minister overstaying his time would presumably be escorted by Beefeaters to the Tower, an election would be called by the Queen and thus dictatorship avoided. Because the rules are understood, this never happens!

In the case of power transference to the EU, it must be said that the "Subjects" voted in Governments who consistently did this. Governments can no longer hand over the same power bestowed originally on them, so they have defaulted on their obligations.

If this is a Constitutional difficulty, it is not of the Queen's making. The people have consistently voted for Parties who openly give power away to the EU. The complainers say this power change can only legally take place via a referendum and I agree with them, but the Queen has no power to call a referendum.

Presumably UK Governments are happy to be in 'Office' but not in 'Power.'