I WOULD like to say how sorry I am that Julie Hilling was not re-elected to serve as Bolton West MP.

She was the best Bolton West candidate and also the best MP; even the Conservative candidate thanked her for the work that she had done and I thank him for that.

Recognising what a fine MP she has been been goes a long way to soften the blow. I find it disappointing that Bolton West constituency voters chose to back a party of greed, a party that will divide this country, a party that will make a lot of lives that much poorer.

The problem is that people tend to vote for greed; tell them that you will is cut the taxes is music to their ears but they don’t seem to understand what those taxes pay for. However, the election is over and we must wait and see what the outcome really is. On a slim majority Mr Cameron may find it even harder to govern than he did with the Coalition. The LibDems were too soft. His backbenchers may not be so tolerant.

As for the new Conservative MP who made a lot of announcements about how bad our potholes and our infrastructure are, he has precisely five years to eradicate all the potholes in Bolton because he surely must be judged on this and I’m sure that Mr Cameron will listen to him and provide him with the £16,000 million needed to repair the UK's pothole problems. I will be watching to make sure that he keeps to his word and solves the pothole problems. I’ve been assured that if the councils are given the money specifically to repair all the roads that is what they will do. Watch this space.

Also I’d like to congratulate Carol Swarbrick on winning the local election in Smithills ward. I look forward to Carol taking her position as the Mayor of Bolton, a position she so richly deserves.

Ian Greenhalgh

Bolton