• YOUR front-page lead that Camden may become a one-party state rightly flags up something that would be very bad indeed for our local democracy, (Wipe-out on polling day? March 8).

The likelihood is that Labour is on course to win at least 45 of Camden’s 54 seats, maybe more. This is mainly because the electorate wants to give the Conservative government a good kicking.

But what is actually needed locally is good, strong, councillors of more than one colour. Inner-London is currently a near-Mugabe state with several of Camden’s deadbeat Labour councillors having jobs for life, where a china teapot would be elected if it had a red rosette.

For those who don’t follow Town Hall politics closely I can assure you that opposition councillors such as Sian Berry, Flick Rea, Jonny Bucknell and Andrew Marshall have, over and over, been very valuable grit in the oyster of local politics, repeatedly raising questions and issues which would otherwise have been quietly passed over.

This, of course, alongside the pivotal importance of the New Journal watching over our interests.

I urge readers to look carefully at the individual candidates and assess them on merit. In particular, if they’re from an opposition party and stand a chance of being elected, give them your vote and let some very necessary light into the Town Hall chamber.

For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not a candidate, I no longer belong to any party, and I’m not unhappy that Georgia Gould will be the leader of a Labour-controlled council after May 4. But we do need checks and balances.

PAUL BRAITHWAITE
Bartholomew Road, NW5