SIR,
You published a letter on 19th May from the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Monmouth Constituency, in which he tried to explain why he supports a coalition government with the Conservatives.
I suspect that those who voted Lib Dem to keep the Tories out will be unconvinced.
Instead of a Lib Dem MP, you got a Tory MP in Monmouth, and the party you voted for is propping up a Tory government in Westminster.
If that was not what you had in mind, I invite you to join the Labour Party – as 14,000 people have done across the country since 6th May.
You will be very welcome in the only major progressive party still left in Britain.
As Labour's Parliamentary Candidate at the last election, I was of course disappointed that we did not achieve the breakthrough we worked so hard for.
But Labour remained the second largest party in Monmouth Constituency, with a share of the vote which exceeded all the smaller parties put together, including the Lib Dems.
As the principal opposition party in this constituency, we will continue to be vigilant in scrutinising what the Conservatives do in power – both locally and nationally – supporting them when they deserve support, and challenging them robustly when they don't.
The test we will apply to their actions will be the same in every case: Do they help or hurt those without wealth, power or privilege?
And we will continue to campaign for the progressive agenda on which we fought the election; for jobs, for young families, for older people, for better public services, for fairer taxation, and for constitutional reform.
Hamish Sandison
(Usk)