YOUR Westminster correspondent, Bill Jacobs, alleges (LET, April 20) that introducing proportional representation (PR) for the European elections will enable the New Labour leadership to "weed out leftwingers... a consideration believed to have been part of Michael Hindley's decision not to stand..."

Believed by whom? That infamous and cowardly crowd of "sources close to the leadership"?

I am sorry to bother Mr Jacobs with the truth, but I had declared I was standing down before the announcement of PR, a fact actually reported in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

I cannot expect Mr Jacobs to hunt for 'news' much beyond the surreal world of lobby correspondents and off-the-record briefings, but he might read the paper which employs him. He or an alert editor might have noticed also that I am on record as actually welcoming PR.

MICHAEL HINDLEY, MEP, South Lancashire.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.