ANTHONY BALLINGER, of Meadow Close, Kingskerswell, writes:
I am indebted to Mike Haines for his letter in the MDA of May 1 where he confirms all that I had said in my previous letter to this paper on April 24 in that when voting for an independent candidate, what are you voting for?
Mike Haines tells us the following:
1 The independent councillors aligned themselves to the Conservative party up to 2003.
2 They then changed their allegiance to the Liberal Democrats after that date.
3 The independent councillors are a 'group' of which he is their leader and spokesman.
4 He then accuses the Conservative group of being blinkered and obeying the party line.
There is no difference between a Conservative group and a group of Independent councillors who may meet in private and discuss decisions that are to be made which will become their policy on the council. Your readers should know that most political parties work in this manner and it is not just the Tories who do it.
So, as I said previously, and it was confirmed by Mike Haines, when you vote for an Independent candidate you could be voting for them to support the Lib-Dems or the Conservatives and you won't know which until after the election. even then they could change their minds.
So now you know exactly what you are voting for when selecting an Independent candidate. Or do you?