On 43 seats they are only seven from controlling the City Council. Labour won 13, Lib Dem and Tories each scored nine this time round.

Imagine my utter astonishment then, to find that in the official results on the council website the first thing you see is a table showing the Tories actually won!

Their 31.41 percent of the vote outstripped Labour by nearly three per cent, with the Lib Dems on a distant 18.89 per cent. The BNP are closer to the Lib Dems than the Lib Dems are to the Tories. It's absurd.

Boundaries

I am no political expert but it is pretty obvious to me that the boundaries in Leeds are designed to favour one party and to confine Tory voters into "blue ghettos" returning massive Conservative majorities like the 4,000-plus in Harewood. This is not democracy.

If I was a Tory voter I would be clamouring for action. The boundaries should be redrawn immediately, on a fair and equitable basis, preferably with none of the political parties allowed a hand in the process.

Failing that, how about taking a leaf out of London's book? Cut the number of directly-elected councillors by a third, leaving two per ward. Hold elections every two years – saving the city a fortune in the process. Then, at each election, top up, from party lists, by 17 councillors allocated on the percentage of the vote.

If I wanted to live somewhere that the party with the highest number of votes loses, I could go to Zimbabwe. I did think I lived in a democracy.

Hadyn Thomas, Pudsey


Ever since I moved into the Wakefield district 28 years ago I've often heard around election times "If you stuck a red rosette on a donkey, people around here would vote for it" ... in other words Labour candidates will always get in no matter what.

However, in view of the local election results, it would appear that if donkeys had been standing this time in Wakefield then their sanctuary would no longer be the safe place that it has always been – and that applies, too, to all but six of the 22 seats contested in the Wakefield district where the councillors now elected truly represent the majority of people who bothered to turn out to vote in their ward.

Leader of WMDC, Coun Box, states (YEP, May 3) that he won Altofts and Whitwood – his own ward in which I live – but taking into account the collective number of votes given to other candidates for the seat then as Labour candidate he certainly didn't win with over 50 per cent of the vote.

The same applies to the Normanton seat where the successful Labour candidate received even fewer votes than those given collectively to the other candidates for that seat.

So, to those people who couldn't be bothered to vote but still carry on whinging about the services, or lack of, in their area then you only have yourselves to blame! You'll get what you're given – and in view of Wakefield MDC's determination to be able to continue boasting about having the lowest council tax, one can only assume that there's very little revenue being collected for them to spend on services in the first place!

I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person in the Wakefield district who would be prepared to pay more in order to get better services than those currently provided.

James Morris, Drury Lane, Upper Altofts, Normanton


I note that Malcolm Naylor, (YEP, May 5) bemoans the fact that the Labour Party seems to have dumped its Socialist principles. This may well be true.

However, in the recent council elections there was available in 13 wards (including Otley) a candidate of 'Alliance for Green Socialism'. I do not know much about this group, but would assume they are Socialist-based. In the election, under half of these candidates managed to achieve even three figures of votes.

At the opposite side of the political spectrum the BNP achieved good voter support, coming second in a number of wards.

From this, and the increasing Conservative support over the country, Socialism may be a thing to be avoided by the main political parties.

Paul C Thompson, Wetherby Road, Scarcroft, Leeds


NO, I did not vote. Why? I am a pensioner. No-one knocks on my door.

Who is my candidate? Why vote for whoever? Sorry. Not interested.

John Lewis, Thirsk Grove, Leeds