YOUR correspondent Jeremy Bateman (letters: January 11) puts forward a very dangerous idea when he argues that people shouldn't vote Green because this would "let the Tory genie out of the bottle".

I am very happy for voters to make up their own minds about what kind of MP and what kind of government they want but they should remember that the Labour government is responsible for a National Health Service that still fails tens of thousands, a system of support for students that leaves tens of thousands in crippling debt, a transport system that is the laughing stock of the world, the poorest rail services with the highest fares in Europe, a biased system of local government funding that rewards London and the south east and punishes local authorities like Lancaster and an environmental record that will see the country covered in health-damaging incinerators and one of the lowest rates of recycling in Europe. Remember also that it was a Labour government that produced an insulting 70p a week increase for pensioners.

This is a dreadful record for a Labour government and my job is to make sure that we all know this and that good, sound "green" alternatives are put to the voters. This is called democracy.

The argument that all this will let "bad" Tories in and keep "nice" Labour out is rubbish The Greens in Lancaster are determined to make sure that both Tories and Labour never forget that they answerable to the people, that we are watching them, that we have alternatives and that we speak with a strong independent voice. The Labour Party with its millions of pounds of new money from big business and its rich friends has no automatic right to local votes and if local people agree with us they should vote Green.

Prof John Whitelegg, Green Party candidate for the Lancaster and Wyre Constituency