I SINCERELY hope it’s not true, as Cllr Paul Richardson claims in his letter, that he and UKIP represent the views of the majority of men and women in the street.

He speaks of the need for ‘one community in Bolton’, and who could disagree? But his policies and those of his party promote the very opposite – sowing the seeds of fear, distrust, and prejudice, particularly against those of the Muslim faith.

Without offering a shred of evidence, he suggests that ‘minorities’ are being allowed to ‘shout above their weight’ in order to gain disproportionate advantage for themselves.

Worse still, he goes on to accuse Muslims of threatening to take over Conservative areas of the town, presumably to spread even further their supposed disproportionate advantage. These are deliberate distortions, but distortions that Cllr Richardson seems only too willing to spread in order to win ‘disproportionate advantage’ for himself and his party.

Views such as his can only feed fear and suspicion and deepen the divisions within our community. To advocate them in the cause of ‘one community in Bolton’ is disingenuous in the extreme. I feel a deep sense of shame that one of my ward councillors voices such odious and divisive views. And if this puts me in a minority, Cllr Richardson, then I can only say that I’m proud to belong to it.

Neil Duffield

Darcy Lever