IN reply to the letter from Mr Bullock I must point out to him that I am not a Labour Party member indeed I’ve stood four times for parliament against the Labour Party.

I try to look at everything on balance; the fact that the Conservatives are a party of division, maintaining a large proportion of poor people so the rich can be richer yes I do disagree. I think the minimum wage, brought in by Labour, is appalling. I’m opposed to Trident, which is supported by all three parties; I’m opposed to the transatlantic agreement, supported by all three parties I’m opposed to the House of Lords; supported by all three parties. I can assure you it is not my beloved Labour Party.

But yes Labour was the best option available to people in this country. This time Mr Cameron will find it exceedingly difficult to govern with his very slim majority. The fact that he’s governing with only 24.4% of the population voting for him means he hasn’t really got a mandate to do anything, that is, if you believe in democracy. Does he?

No Sir you’ve misrepresented me; obviously you don’t know me; Yes I’m opinionated, yes I want to help people in this country to have a better life, yes I believe in private enterprise and profit but I also believe that public services should be publicly owned and I do not believe in privatising the health service. I also believe everyone should pay their fair share of taxes.

The problem is Labour wouldn’t alter anything that much - Ed Miliband is a lefty? He doesn’t know what the word means and as for insulting the new MP for Bolton West, I resent that because all I said was that I will be holding him to account. One of his major election planks was to get rid of all the potholes. This will cost the hard-working people of this country in the region of £16,000,000. I hope he gets it and I hope it does the job but I will be reminding people if he doesn’t. I am exceedingly concerned for the people who are not going to do very well out of this government such as local authority workers who are still being paid less than the private sector, their wages rise is less than 1% whereas private sector is over 2%.

Julie Hilling was the best MP this town’s ever had. If we had proportional representation it would give everyone a say in government which is the only truly democratic way. Anyone opposed to it is opposed to democracy. I believe there should be a box on the ballot paper to reject all candidates standing - that is true democracy. This country is still in a mess thanks to the Conservatives.

Ian Greenhalgh

Bolton