I SEE Coun Paul Denham's fired the local election starting gun, with his letter headlined "Independents caused Labour's loss of control."

He is wrong. Mike Layland has no control over the votes of Independent councillors. That is why they are Independents.

We, the people, voted those Independent councillors in. It is therefore we, the people, who voted Labour out of power. Given that wards turned their backs on Labour and voted Independent, what would those electorates have said, if those Independent councillors had then voted Labour back into control of our city?

Surely those Independent Councillors had then voted into power, with the objective of kicking Labour out. Didn't Labour's antics make residents action group's a city-wide industry? Didn't Labour end up with thousands of people out on the streets in defence of Cripplegate? Didn't Labour ram through its destruction of Perdiswell, for park-and-ride on the casting vote of its Chairman, despite intense opposition?

Those who moved away from the party political puppets, who take their orders from Transport House and Central Office showed remarkable courage. It questions why other ward electorates don't do the same, and elect people who will actually represent their view.

Just why should we, the people, routinely elect political party hacks, whose first loyalty is to their party, rather than their electorate? The Independents have shown that the only way we can have representative democracy is by individuals getting off their backsides, and working and voting for that representative democracy.

It is a tragedy that too many still can't be bothered to get involved. But people did in Kidderminster, and look what has happened since - Labour is beginning a U-turn. Kidderminster's people's revolution shows that we the people are not governed by the ballot box, but by the apathetic majority, who can't be bothered to discharge their duty to democracy.

If the people won't work for democracy, democracy can't work for them.

NEIL TAYLOR, Worcester.