Who called for the town’s by-election?

Dear Sir,

In his letter in last week's Chronicle about the recent by-election, Llew Hughes wrote: "The Labour Party was one of the last to put forward 10 people to demand an election."

I have not been able to fi nd out who called this by-election.

Despite it being a public document, I could not fi nd the list(s) on either of the relevant websites.

From his statement, I assume he does know who called it and there was at least one other and probably more groups of people.

For the record, the local Liberal Democrats decided not to call it though to contest any called by others.

It does seem that despite his utterances, and the generous offer by the ruling Conservatives, many people thought the town should hold a byelection costing more than £15,000. It also seems strange that at least one group called and then did not contest the election.

Perhaps your thorough Factchecker could enlighten readers on this matter.

Yours faithfully,

(DR) PETER HIRST

Middlewich.

Factcheck: This is not really facts but politics: from what I know, after the by-election was planned, the Conservatives did say they would prefer not to hold a by-election and would co-opt a new councillor. The Tories said this was to create a better political balance on Congleton Town Council and save money.

You could argue all sides on this one.

Were the Tories trying to have more diverse views on the council and in the interests of democracy introducing a critical voice?

Or did they hope to avoid an embarrassing defeat in the polls by recruiting a feeble opposition member, knowing they'd win every vote anyway?

Or did they do it more cynically, knowing their opponents would call an election and the Tory propaganda could then accurately claim that other parties had "wasted" £15,000 by calling an election?

It seems likely that if one candidate had not forced an election, another one would, and there was much talk on social media of an election being necessary.

I would say that it is wrong to talk of £15,000 being "wasted". Democracy is never wasted; if people want to vote, they should be able to. An election is out in the open, too: no-one would know the basis for the co-option of a member. - Editor.