LETTER: Have Tories run out of people?

His thesis rested on one by-election result where less than a quarter of those entitled to vote bothered to make an effort. It would be possible to draw a similar inference about the other political parties based on a by-election held in Tunbridge Wells on the same day, where UKIP took a seat from the Labour Party, but so far as I know, nobody was so foolish as to make such a claim.

What I think is extraordinary about the Storrington result is that 1,037 people turned out to vote for a candidate representing the Conservative Party, when that party in all its guises, without any sort of electoral mandate, is busy wrecking our district by converting it into a brickyard against the wishes of just about everybody who lives here.

Yet these same people are bemoaning the despoliation of our countryside and even writing letters to your newspaper about it. There is little doubt that the Sussex stalwart experiences some very odd thought processes.

John Wallace, the UKIP candidate, made an excellent point about individuals simultaneously occupying seats at both district and county council levels. It seems inconceivable that someone could effectively discharge both responsibilities adequately, yet I notice that Mrs Liz Kitchen is ambitious to do the same thing with her candidature for the county council seat in Warnham and Rusper whilst at the same time serving on Horsham District Council.

I am aware that membership of the Conservative Party is declining spectacularly, but have they run out of suitable people capable of a local government role?

GEORGE W. TRIBE

UKIP, The Coopers, Itchingfield