MADAM - Mr Carmichael is our MP because he got the most votes in 2010.

Mr Shevlin blames that on the Green Party vote of 1,542 and ignores the Lib Dem vote of 8,955, the Ukip vote of 1,301 and the Independent vote of 116.

That is 11,914 electors, or 20.5 per cent of those that voted did not want either a Conservative or a Labour MP.

Ignoring his preference for blaming the Greens in particular, a common trait among the Labour faithful, the implications of suggesting nobody vote for the party of their choice is to disenfranchise those 11,914 voters and that in every marginal parliamentary constituency the contest should be limited to the two parties that got the most votes in the previous election.

So will we see a Labour candidate in Cheltenham, for instance? Yes, of course we will and a Green Party one, too.

We need people to re-engage with politics (26 per cent didn’t vote in 2010) with electors free to consider each party’s policies, not candidates’ personalities.

Everyone has seen where celebrity culture can lead, including it seems, with regard to some politicians.

So I look forward to seeing a Green Party candidate advocating policies that differ from those of the other parties, giving the electorate choice and the chance to opt out of the Red-Blue straightjacket.

Gerald Hartley

Moreton Valence