Letter to The Editor - Britain is not a democracy but an oligarchy

To The Australian         Henry Ergas ("Brexit reveals what Parliament thinks of the people", 6/9) cites an important statement in 1734 by John Wilkes that the whole power of electors is devolved upon MPs who must "regard only the public good in general". Parliament may indeed be sovereign constitutionally, as Ergas shows, but, once elected, MPs must seek to act honourably and righteously to defend the welfare of the nation. There is good reason to feel that many of the MPs who have voted to frustrate the Government's Brexit plan were not regarding the public good in general, but serving an unelected elite and/or furthering their own careers. As regards the incorporation of the UK in the EU, there is a long history of deception of the public by MPs and elements in the mass media. The duplicity of Remainers has indeed “shattered the complex web of make-believe" that has hidden UK political realities. It turns out that, when the chips are down, Britain is not a democracy but an oligarchy.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic