Independents: a word of warning

Dear Sir,

While agreeing that a more balanced council would benefi t the people of Congleton, I would like to give a few words of warning about electing Independent councillors.

At town and parish level Independent councillors, assuming they put themselves forward for the right reasons, will do the council good.

They can act and vote on issues as they seem to them, not needing to take account of any party or wider considerations.

At borough it is a different story; they live in different parts and if they vote as a bloc, it is in reality just another party though perhaps with a weaker structure allowing different votes on particular issues.

My own experience is that without a set of values other than sticking up for their patch, they can end up neither achieving very much, nor even voting according to their best instincts.

The party system has its faults but the national perspective is that it allows some consistency that the electorate values.

Yours faithfully,

(DR) PETER HIRST

Middlewich.