Sir – Mr Macleod, who continues to protest against government spending cuts (Craven Herald, March 28), implores me in the name of ‘people power’ to respect the findings of the British Social Attitudes survey as a true expression of the will of the people.

But there are some surprisingly intolerant developments in the latest survey – “Support for the government’s main role in providing welfare support and for increasing spending on benefits has declined markedly in the past decade” and “People are more sceptical about whether benefit recipients deserve the help they receive than during the last recession in the early 1990s and attitudes show little sign of softening”.

Will Mr Macleod, despite his trenchant views to the contrary, respect and uphold the above as expressions of the will of the people, or does his variant of ‘people power’ require a more selective approach of the survey contents to suit his narrative?

A JA Smith, Secretary UKIP Yorkshire Dales, Cowling