I DON’T know about "Turning the page on History” (Echo, June 26), but David Cameron has set himself on course to close the book.

For the past 800 years Magna Carta has been the symbol that keeps citizens free and our rulers in check, yet no other prime minister in history has tried so hard to drive a coach and horses through the principles it embodies.

In office he has relentlessly pursued the extension of executive power while reducing the defences we citizens have against it. Michael Gove last week laid bare the hypocrisy further by conceding we now have a “two-nation” legal system in this country, exacerbated by the coalition government Mr Cameron led that dramatically rolled back equal access to justice when £600m was cut from the legal aid budget.

He also sought limits on how citizens can challenge government decisions and wants to weaken protection for workers. Re-elected, Mr Cameron has made clear his determination to scrap the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

So, Mr Cameron, which values are you really most proud of? The great charter King John declared that changed the world, or the perverse way you are bent on changing it back again?

By continuing to revoke the power of the citizen you shame a cherished principle not honour it. By keeping citizens in check in order to allow elites to reign free you are really no different to the tyrant overlord the ancient Barons sought to overthrow.

Andy McDonald MP, Middlesbrough