This government is helping big tech to undermine British democracy | David Puttnam

I leave the Lords with a heavy heart, as ministers kowtow to new and unaccountable forms of power

• David Puttnam is a film producer and is retiring from the House of Lords

I'm retiring from the House of Lords after 24 years. In doing so I've found myself cast in the role of reluctant whistleblower".

I believe we are sleepwalking towards a form of unaccountable power the like of which, in the modern era, the UK has never previously experienced. This was the theme of the Shirley Williams Memorial Lecture, which I delivered last Friday, setting out my serious concerns for democracy based on what I have observed during a lengthy spell on the red benches. It is hard to ignore the manipulative impact this train wreck of a government is having on the wellbeing of our nation.