So, Mrs Snelgrove's meeting on the issue of Identity Cards and the National Identity Register (Liden Community Centre, September 20, 6.30pm) is almost upon us and as one of those lucky few to have received a coveted invitation I am very much looking forward to this meeting.

However, it hasn't gone unnoticed by myself or many other people that the focus of this meeting has shifted to suit Mrs Snelgrove's agenda.

This is not just reflected in the name, from that of a public information meeting, as described by Mrs Snelgrove herself in this newspaper on February 13 this year to one of a far from public ID Card listening panel, which is an invitation-only event with guests from the Home Office.

If this watering-down of the meeting's purpose wasn't bad enough, we now find ourselves witness to an attack on the heart of our democracy by our own MP.

A string of letters in this newspaper over recent weeks have recounted the encounters of a number of people who have been disappointed and angered to have been denied access to this event on the grounds of capacity.

However, I have since learned that following these, Carol Heavens of Anne Snelgrove's Labour Party sent out an email to party members on September 6 offering places at this event to the Labour party faithful, even after others were being denied access.

Perhaps Mrs Snelgrove would care to offer some form of explanation as to why it is acceptable that those party faithful have been singled out for such preferential treatment when she knows only too well that others, who have made their interest known, are sidelined. This blatant attempt to pre-select the audience at this event will serve no purpose other than to ensure that Mrs Snelgrove and her party are further removed from the will of the people.

I have no doubt that Mrs Snelgrove's listening panel will be a stage-managed publicity stunt, packed with a bunch of bureaucrats and career politicians from the Home Office.

This leaves me wondering exactly who will be expected to listen to whom at this event. After all recent history has certainly taught us that, on this issue at least, Mrs Snelgrove and the Labour party appear to be incapable of listening to the concerns of constituents.

A Flockhart.

Swindon