Adrian Waters’ comment (BFP August 3) about voting for one thing and getting another reminded me of the Coalition government’s recent behaviour.

I voted Conservative at the last election mainly because I was concerned about the downward spiral in civil liberties from the previous government, as both Blair and Brown had rather Stalinist tendencies in this area.

The Conservatives and the Liberals were very vocal in their opposition to Labour’s proposals for mass surveillance of the population.

Both parties contained election manifesto promises to “reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties and roll back state intrusion” and to “end the storage of internet and e-mail records without good reason”.

Fast forward to today and what do we have? Both Conservatives and Liberals are now pushing for mass surveillance every bit as bad as Labour’s proposals.

I feel betrayed.

I voted for a party promising to do something and instead it's doing the exact opposite! What on earth is the point of voting?

Not only is it insulting, it shows the contempt in which these parties hold the electorate.

They’ll promise anything just to get your vote and then do what they want.

I think that there should be a law that whatever a party promises in its election manifesto should be enacted in government or face penalties.

There is already a deep lack of trust in politics and politicians by the public. This kind of disgusting behaviour will only deepen that mistrust.

Chris Burmajster, Andrews Way, Marlow Bottom