RG Jenkins (Letters, October 24) says a petition of about 100 names is not a true reflection of what locals think and that he's sure he could find 100 people to agree with his strong views on council tax.

However, the 100 signatures were collected in just a few hours, before MP Celia Barlow announced she wouldn't present the Is It Fair? petition to the House of Commons.

It would have been easy to have collected signatures running into four figures had she agreed to do so.

Hansard will record that, up and down the country, the Is It Fair? campaign collected, in just a few months, a five-figure number of signatures, proving what people think.

It is the inalienable right of citizens to freely petition Parliament and for their MP to present to Parliament a petition if called upon to do so.

I suggest anyone who is in any doubt should log on to www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/code02.htm#a3, where it says: "Members have a general duty to act in the interests of the nation and a special duty to their constituents."

-Dave Bonwick, Portslade