SIR: The local council elections are finished and all the parties are expressing how well they have done. It was, therefore, of some interest to look at how well our newer potential councillors had fared. This was especially interesting as we had been inundated by leaflets, letters and posters supporting "Green candidate Chris Maile", a term frequently used by the local papers.

When a political party is trying to gain a share of the vote in a ward it puts every effort into making sure all its supporters turn out to vote even if this includes transporting them to the polling booths. This was evident in the percentage turnout in the Hope Carr ward for example, "Green candidate Chris Maile's" ward. The reality as shown by the figures is that out of the votes that could have been cast for the local area, nearly 100,000, the Green Party managed to pick up 2.40% of the potential votes available. Even in the three wards that are close to the Xanadu site and, therefore, the subject of major lobbying by "Green candidate Chris Maile" the percentage was 3.92%. Hope Carr, "Green candidate Chris Maile's" ward had the best result where the Green Party picked up 8.70% of the potential voters.

In Leigh Central where it has been suggested by the Green Party candidate Mr. S. Critchley, that we have a separate town council, I see the support was even less overwhelming, the percentage of the voting potential being achieved being 1.86%

It is obvious that the local people do not support the idea of political change and so could we now have a rest from the amount of publicity concerning this subject. John O'Brien

Moreton Drive

Pennington, Leigh

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.