WHILE it's obviously a catchy headline, 'Protestors torpedo Minister's visit,' put quite the wrong construction on quite a successful public meeting with Foreign Minister Tony Lloyd over Kosovo.

It is surely a good day for democracy when a Minister is prepared to come to Lancaster in the middle of an international crisis to set out the Government's view of the situation and to respond in a reasoned and calm manner to the public concern and criticism. Your headline implied that the meeting had been disrupted when in fact many people took the opportunity to make some very serious, well-informed points. Of course these sort of occasions are often attended with the colour and noise of demonstrations, it's right and proper that they should, but I think that your headline detracted from the quality of genuine debate and completely ignored the willingness of Tony Lloyd to listen and to reply thoughtfully to contributions. As MP for Lancaster, I'm very keen to try to arrange opportunities for public debate. Honest dissent and disagreement are the lifeblood of democracy and while I'm sorry that we didn't have more time and while I'm sure that I could have chaired a difficult meeting better, I think that you might have recognised the significance of a meeting which I'm not has been replicated anywhere else.

The meeting has also had a practical result with one excellent piece of writing prepared for the meeting being passed on to Tony Blair. Although I fundamentally agree with the Government's stance on Kosovo I'm also happy to recognise that many people have knowledge, opinions and insights which go far beyond mine and that at times like these perhaps it's especially important for dissenting voices to be heard.

Hilton Dawson MP

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