I WOULD like to take issue with Cllr Silvester and his recent comments concerning the Horwich Town Council by-election which he lost at the turn of a card.

While I can understand his frustration at losing in such a way, the bitterness of his tone shows an arrogance that is rife in the Labour Party.

He claims personal attacks were made by the Liberal Democrats and Horwich First — yet can produce no evidence of this. Indeed only two points were made during the election regarding Cllr Silvester:

1) He lives in Halliwell, not Horwich, despite Labour literature attempting to suggest otherwise.

2) He supported the Cliff Morris Asons grant.

Does questioning the political decision making and misinformation spread by an opposition party count as a personal attack now?

At a time when we are fighting against fake news, we must be cautious to fact check everything that we see in the public domain.

Richard's claims of personal attacks are nothing more than fake news and people should at the very least insist of seeing the evidence to substantiate such claims before listening to a single word.

As for losing at the turn of a card?

Well maybe Labour should support proportional representation instead of continuing with the undemocratic first-past-the-post system that allows a town or country to be led by a group with fewer than 50 per cent of the votes.

Kevin Walsh

Bolton Liberal Democrats