As reported in Building (19 November, page 15), Alan Wood has exposed the unfair practices that European governments use to exclude British companies from their public sector contracts.

However, had Gordon Brown asked him to do so, he could equally well have reported on the unfair practices used by British government agencies when tendering such contracts.

Certainly my firm could write a book on this subject, so frequently have we witnessed UK authorities incorrectly or unfairly interpreting the rules so as to exclude certain UK bidders, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises.

Saleem Akram of the Chartered Institute of Building is wrong to condemn the European commission for its failure to implement procurement directives – on the contrary, it is the commission that has actually implemented them. However, he is right to criticise individual European Union member states for failing to observe them. It is just that the UK should not escape such criticism and it is hypocritical of Brown to suggest otherwise.

Graham Stow, via email

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