I WOULD prefer MPs Ivan Lewis and David Chaytor to vote according to the views of their constituents and not their own personal views, or those of the Labour Party, or of the Government.

Examples include their vote against corporal and capital punishment and for the invasion of Iraq. In my view both votes went against the overwhelming wishes of the electorate and I maintain that on many occasions they have put their own, or their parties opinions, before those of their constituents.

I must confess that I am one of the many voters who do not have much information about the work they do on our behalf in order to justify the considerable salaries and expenses they receive from the public purse. Also, I would be interested to know how Mr Lewis fits in his constituency duties along with his ministerial work. Surely MPs should regularly inform us of their achievements, perhaps via the Guide!

Metro councillors are also conspicuous by their absence between elections, even though they are also well rewarded for their work. And do we really need 53 of them and 650 MPs?

Individually they appear to have little influence or benefit and many only surface at election time.

Personally, I would rather vote for a non-party individual as the established practice of voting for a party representative encourages too many decisions being made along party lines.

DEREK RYDER