ON the subject of the will of the people (Peter Rickaby, Letters, May 8) it is worth noting that all the dictators and autocratic regimes in the world today have been elected democratically by majority vote - as were Hitler and Stalin.

They resent and suppress any disagreement and criticism of the power given to them by the popular vote.

We must be thankful that generations of British politicians have recognised the benefit to the government of the country of having a revising chamber - the House of Lords - whose members are there in a personal capacity because of their professional or life experience and can, without seeking any favour, scrutinise and debate in the light of that experience legislation proposed by the elected House, suggesting ways in which they believe it could be improved.

The House of Lords has no power to enact or veto legislation, its suggested revisions being debated and either accepted or rejected by the House of Commons.

It is the embodiment of the right to hold and debate different views.

Maurice Vassie,

Deighton, York

What crime have the Lords committed?

Peter Rickaby puts forward the hard-line Brexiteers’ argument for abolition of the House of Lords (Letters, May 8).

I wonder if he realises just how disingenuous it is?

The voters, he says, opted for exit from the EU, ‘no ifs, no buts’, and goes on to say ‘Brexit means Brexit - no conditions, out means totally out’.

Wrong. The referendum contained a single yes/no question, and the Leave campaign did not campaign on the basis that ‘out means totally out’.

Quite the opposite: we were promised continued full access to the single market, on the grounds that the EU had no choice, needing our trade more than we need theirs.

The House of Lords has not voted against Brexit.

It has amended the proposed Bill to require continued membership of some sort of customs union with the EU.

This is entirely compatible with the Leave campaign’s promise of full access to the single market.

So what terrible anti-democratic crime have their Lordships committed, so dreadful as to require they be abolished? None as far as I can see.

Alan Robinson,

Lindley Street,

Holgate, York