A dangerous precedent

Sir, – Can we take it as official that Britain is no longer a democracy, now that Theresa May has gone out on a limb without consulting MPS and ordered unapproved military action in Syria?

It was a complete departure from longestablished procedures.

The US refuses to disclose evidence it says it has on the use of a chemical attack by the Syrian Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party in Douma and I think we all know why.

It seems like the attack was a purposeful attempt to prevent an inspection by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from finding a lack of evidence of the development of any chemical weapons.

I can visualise in the years to come, apologies, again, from the world bullies and acknowledgements of such past “mistakes”.

However, this is simply not good enough.

If the prime movers are not held to account for their past so-called mistakes, innocent people will continue to suffer while the infiltrators get carte blanche to carry out atrocities with impunity, multiplying the many enemies that have already been visited on the British people.

It seems to me to be an extreme way to deflect the public mind from the Brexit conundrum.

This ploy has been successfully played out by various failing Premiers of the past.

The Scottish Government, for its part, should emphatically condemn this debasement of the democratic process. Had we taken the opportunity, we could have left all these problems to the London Government.

We would now be in a position to sit back and lend sympathy to our unrepresented neighbours down south, instead of being forcefully embroiled in the diplomatic scandal. William Burns. 41/8 Pennywell Road, Edinburgh.