MAY I thank the many thousands of people who voted for me at the general election, and the many thousands more in the constituency who did not vote for the Liberal Democrats this time, but who wished us well.

The campaign was fought in a positive and friendly spirit, and I pay tribute to my fellow candidates for that and congratulate Paul Goodman MP on his victory. Without wishing to inject too much partisanship, I was disappointed to notice that one of the many defeated Labour County Council candidates has written to attack the Liberal Democrats for taking enough votes from Labour to deny them victory here at the general election.

His analysis that, because of our electoral system, people who opposed the war in Iraq should still have voted for the Labour Party since the Conservatives failed to refer the hospital closures to the then Health Secretary, John Reid, is breathtaking nonsense.

The Labour Government fought the Iraq war. The Labour Government could, at any time, call in for review the decision to close the Wycombe General SCBU. The Labour Government could, at any time, legislate to alter our archaic and absurd electoral system.

For local Labour party act-ivists to pretend that all these issues are nothing to do with them is frankly deluded. Government policy might seem to Labour activists to be like the unchangeable weather that we just have to put up with, but the Liberal Democrats know that we can and should fight to change all of these policies.

So I have news for Kiern Moran. The Liberal Democrats will do even better next time.

James Oates, Wycombe Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidate , High Wycombe