Southdown closing

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 16

Southdown closing

Sir, — I had thought that in a democracy members of Parliament were , supposed to be the representatives of the people. I therefore cannot understand how some members of Parliament, viz. the Prime Minister, Mr Talboys, Mr Maclntyre, can feel free to swear their secrecy on a matter which is of the utmost importance to a large piece of our population. I refer to the incident where these members of Parliament vowed their silence when told “in confidence” that the Southdown freezing works was to be closed. I assert, on the basis of my first sentence, that it should not be possible for these men to be told, “in confidence”, about such a matter. Their primary responsibility is for the welfare of the people of this country and any information they receive should be acted on in a manner consistent with this responsibility. With reference to this particular incident, I maintain that even if these men had not felt it would have been better to release their information to the public, they could at least have informed the Minister of Labour. — Yours, etc., M. I. MOORE. September 19, 1980.