PAUL H Griffiths thinks electoral reform to introduce PR for local council elections is necessary.

This is a bit rich coming from a spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, a party which failed to fully participate in recent county council elections.

Let me remind your readers that the Conservative and Labour parties contested all nine county council seats in Worcester. The Liberal Democrats stood in just four seats.

Labour polled 20,190 votes winning five seats, the Conservatives received 17,372 votes taking four seats, the Liberal Democrats managed 4,734 votes with no seats and the Independents received 1,194 votes with no seats.

This, by all calculations, is a fair result, since the Liberal Democrats did not even muster the 4,832 votes that would have been needed under a simple PR system to gain one seat.

More importantly, I am sure many people would like to know why the Liberal Democrats failed to put up county council candidates in Nunnery, St Barnabas, St John's, St Clement and St Martin. Perhaps Mr Griffiths could explain the reason to voters in Worcester.

Will this happen next year in the city council elections?

Mr Griffith's views on PR for the latest local elections in Worcester do not stack up. They might deserve more investigation if the Liberal Democrats cease to be a fringe organisation in Worcester.

PAUL MIDDLEBROUGH,

Worcester,

Worcs.