NOW the dust has settled on an extraordinary election, I’d like to extend my warmest congratulations to David Drew for his deserved victory.

After spending more than 12 hours in his company at the numerous hustings, I know he cares very deeply about Stroud and that he has huge support locally.

I’d like to pay equal tribute to Neil Carmichael.

His vote increased in both absolute and percentage terms, which shows that local people appreciate his hard work for the area over many years.

I’d like to also salute Sarah Lunnon and Glen Gogerly, whose presence on the ballot paper, like mine, ensured that voters had a choice in this unrepresentative voting system that mercilessly squeezes out third parties.

As a country, we must now embrace proportional representation, but this letter is not the right place for that debate.

I’m pleased that the Liberal Democrats moved up into third place again in the constituency.

However, despite the fact many people were interested in our message, it became clear as the campaign wore on that our vote was being squeezed in two directions.

Some liberals wanted to vote for the pro-European candidate most likely to win, Neil, while others wanted to stop the Conservatives forming the next government and therefore voted for David.

Regardless of the result, I’d like to thank everybody who voted, and particularly those who supported the Liberal Democrats at the election.

Nationally, we increased our number of MPs by 50 per cent and we now have the chance to elect a new leader to build our party further and lead the campaign for the liberalism that our country so badly needs in these uncertain times.

In Stroud, we now have a group of local campaigners working across the constituency, as many of your readers will have noticed during the past few weeks.

We intend to carry on campaigning and anyone who wants to join us can email info@stroudlibdems.org.uk Finally, thank you to everybody in the Stroud constituency.

Standing for election here and meeting so many people who care so deeply about their community has been an absolute privilege.

Max Wilkinson

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Stroud