I am a constituent of North East Somerset and am constantly told what I feel by my Labour MP. Happily, Dan Norris is totally wrong.

I am happy to live in a country which encourages free speech, so Mr Norris, please drop this point-scoring anti-hunting campaign which has so far served no purpose to protect wildlife. It has wasted so much Government and police time, all of which I – as a taxpayer – am forced to support.

This ridiculous Act has actually led to a human fatality, through special interest groups taking law enforcement into their own hands.

Please turn your attention to the real needs of your beleaguered constituents (which you are being well-paid for, looking at your high top 10 expense claim!), while you still have them.

JULIA McKEIVOR

Gables

Midsomer Norton

Even though I am not one of Dan Norris's constituents, I wonder if you might like to publish my response to his recent request for views on the hunting ban ('Tell me your views on hunting ban', October 1).

The brief answer is not a lot.

For many years I have dealt with my deer using a non-lethal welfare-friendly method, which involves flushing them out of my woodland.

Doing this allows me to substantially reduce the damage they cause to freshly coppiced trees so that they can regenerate. A key benefit is that although the deer are chased they are never harmed in any way.

Under the Hunting Act, it is now illegal to flush out deer unless reasonable steps are taken to ensure they are shot as soon as possible. The idea that gunning down fleeing deer in some way benefits their welfare is absurd.

I think that the reason the law is like this is because Mr Norris and his anti-hunt colleagues lack the competence to produce an effective law.

I must admit I have followed the Attorney General's lead and am refusing to shoot any of the deer on the grounds that what I am doing is merely a 'technical breach' of a law which is too ridiculous to either be obeyed, or enforced.

GILES BRADSHAW

Rose Ash

South Molton

Dan Norris, I think you have missed the point if you think that the majority of people in the rural part of your constituency wanted hunting banned.

Surely you should have got the message from the reaction when you went out into the country constituencies and were not welcomed.

And as for your silly visit when you showed no respect for the country folk when you supposedly spent a day hunting with the Mendip Farmers' Hunt; you turned up late and incorrectly dressed, and stayed barely 20 minutes – and then had the nerve to claim you had experienced hunting.

What would your constituents or fellow MPs say if you turned up in the Houses of Parliament in jeans and trainers late, and did not even listen to a whole speech, before you left and gave your opinion on it?

Time to get into the real world. The city folks who do not understand the countryside want hunting banned, but anyone who truly understands the countryside wants hunting reinstated.

Your representation of North East Somerset is only half the story, and now it is time for the turn of someone who understands the whole constituency.

Let country people run the countryside and townies, don't try and control what you don't understand.

AMANDA HOLMES

Somerset