Letter: Patten's police

Sir: For the nearly 80 years since the Government of Ireland Act, none of the Ulster-based political parties has proved able to deliver what the vast majority of the electors want - peace and economic prosperity.

Surely the people of Northern Ireland, having voted overwhelmingly for the Good Friday Agreement, should be given the choice of voting directly for the mainstream Westminster parties that are less constrained by the sorry history of the province.

One effect of this would be to enable Messrs Trimble, Adams et al to say to their more extreme rivals that if the Ulster parties cannot resolve the impasse, perhaps Labour, Conservative, or Liberal Democrat candidates representing Ulster constituencies at Westminster would.

Regarding possible changes to the RUC, it is instructive to recall that one effect of Lloyd George's establishing the RUC via the Ulster Special Constabulary was to replace a largely Catholic Royal Irish Constabulary with thousands of Edward Carson's illegal, extremist, "loyalist" Ulster Volunteers.

The Patten proposals lead one to hope that this mistake might be corrected, even if this involves making those who are part of the problem part of the solution.

L A McMAHON

London SW14