Jack Straw in his column (LT, September 16) says he always argued against proportional representation.

Yet he was elected on a manifesto which argued for precisely that.

I quote: “To ensure that every MP is supported by the majority of their constituents voting at each election, we will hold a referendum on introducing the Alternative Vote for elections to the House of Commons.”

On our local council he accuses us of abandoning our principles and we were there “simply to make up the numbers when voting”.

Perhaps he missed the fact that a LibDem executive member for children’s services oversaw a record increase in achievement at GCSE; that we introduced the LibDem policy of Alleygating – so popular that we struggled to meet the demand; we introduced the LibDem policy of Neighbourhood Boards which increased the number of ordinary citizens involved in real decision-making.

In the area I was responsible for, we saw over £3 million extra spending, and saw the integration of health and social care to improve services to our local community and tackle our poor health statistics.

Hardly just making up the numbers.

Perhaps Labour voters should ask Mr Straw and those in leadership why they clearly indicated that they did not want a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

In the end, the national party was faced with staying in splendid isolation or seeing a weak government in place and the inevitable run on the pound and the disastrous consequences for our economy.

We took the decision that in the national interest we had to form a stable coalition with the Conservatives.

No doubt there will be tensions at the LibDem Conference this week and not everyone will agree with all the decisions made by coalition government.

He is right – eventually the electorate will decide if we have used the mandate they gave us, through their votes, to advance the policies they voted for and in the national interest.

I noticed in last Thursday’s local by-elections, Liberal Democrats lost 0 seats, gained 1 from the Conservatives and held on to 4 including a seat in Preston.

Coun David Foster Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Blackburn with Darwen Council.