LABOUR'S Marcus Johnstone (Letters, February 26) skates over a number of salient facts -- in every single parliamentary election fought in the Ribble Valley constituency, Labour has finished in third place.

In the general elections of 1983, 1987, 1992 and 1997 the Liberal Democrats were in second place and in the by-election on March 7, 1991, I won the seat for the Liberal Democrats -- the only time the Tories have lost the seat.

Mr Johnstone says he trebled the Labour vote in the 1997 general election. That may be so, but his 9,000 votes or so were a long way behind the 20,000-plus that I got for the Liberal Democrats. The Tory majority was about 6,500.

Let me remind him of the local government strength of our two parties. In the area covered by the parliamentary constituency of Ribble Valley, the Liberal Democrats have 21 district councillors and two county councillors; Labour has one district councillor.

There are only two serious contenders for the Ribble Valley seat -- the Liberal Democrats and the Tories. Like electors in many seats voters for the third party in the seat are forced to think how they could use their vote most effectively.

With the majority of voters in the country being anti-Tory, that usually means Liberal Democrat and Labour voters voting for the party most likely to defeat the Tories in their particular seat.

The only way to end what Eric Leaver called a 'pointless pantomime' (LET, January 31) in so many seats is to have a fair voting system of proportional representation -- something that both Marcus Johnstone and Nigel Evans are firmly opposed to.

Look at the example of the Scottish Parliament to see how effectively it works, with the Liberal Democrats part of a coalition government.

MICHAEL CARR (Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate, Ribble Valley), Alma Place, Clitheroe.