Put town first Bob and become Independent

While we have differing politics, I always thought we were united in our views of the Conservative Party and our commitment to stopping a Conservative government.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Russell told voters the only way to stop Colchester electing a Conservative MP, and subsequently a Conservative government, was to vote for him.

Since being elected, he has forgotten his commitment to the people of Colchester, in particular to the people who voted for him.

From talking to my family and friends, many people share my disappointment in the man who says he puts Colchester before anything else.

We are calling for Mr Russell to step away from the coalition and become an Independent MP.

Rossanna Trudgian
Rowan Place
Colchester

...I Think Labour’s Kim Naish’s comments (Letters, May 13) headlined “Voters conned by Bob Russell”

were a trifle unfair.

Sour grapes perchance, as a lot of Kim’s more powerful colleagues have dates at the Jobcentre.

I voted for Bob, I expected Bob to win in Colchester and he did. The voters of the UK decided Gordon Brown and his colleagues had had their day.

With the best will in the world, however, the Lib- Dems just don’t have enough would-be MPs to cover all possible seats, and if they had, they wouldn’t be well-known enough to gain the votes to elect them.

They are a long way off being strong enough for a full field. The coalition will give some good men/women a taste of governing, if not with a lot of power.

Bob Dove
Launceston CloseM
Colchester

...In response to the suggestion by Andy Abbott (Letters, May 13) that a lot of us in Colchester may feel conned by the election results, can I suggest there are also a lot of people who don’t.

I would have been as upset and angry as Mr Abbott, I’m sure, if the result had been different, but that is the way with elections – you can’t please everyone.

A lot of people did not vote tactically, they just didn’t want a Labour government.

I don’t feel there is any need for Bob Russell to stand down just because some voters didn’t get what they wanted. I’m sure Bob Russell has never been under the impression, as the town’s MP, that his party represents the political views of everyone in Colchester.

As he said himself in the Gazette, he had received a lot of e-mails urging the Lib Dems NOT to go into coalition with Labour.

D Kay
Morant Road
Colchester

...Colchester’s Conservatives spent a great deal during the election campaign – glossy leaflets, banners on Colchester landmarks, posters of David Cameron across the town. They needn’t have bothered.

What a waste of money.

Not because Will Quince, the Conservative candidate, lost, but because Lib Dem Bob Russell is now one of them.

Adam Fox
Rowan Place
Colchester

...I Write to share my disappointment in Bob Russell.

I am a life-long supporter of and voter for the Labour Party, but this year I chose to vote for Mr Russell to stop a Conservative government.

It was Mr Russell’s leaflets that told us voting for him would stop the Tories.

As a pensioner, who has seen mine and my family’s lives improve under a Labour government and after Mr Russell’s expenses scandal, it took a lot to vote for him. I feel cheated.

Mr Russell, do the right thing and stand away from the coalition.

Mrs R Smith
Morant Road
Colchester

...MPs who helped themselves under their own rules to vast sums of taxpayers’ money should never have been allowed to stand in the general election.

All those voters who knowingly voted for them, condoned the expenses scandal, and will now reap the rewards of a corrupt society.

In the same vein, chief executives of banks, who help themselves to enormous salaries and bonuses should be barred from employment in duly regulated financial institutions.

Yvonne Holley
Vanessa Drive
Wivenhoe