During the 1997 General Election campaign, I was the constituency secretary for the Hove Labour Party. Within two years of that historic victory, I had walked away in total disgust.

I found I had merely substituted one form of very bad government for another.

Nevertheless, people who intend to vote Tory as a result of this Government's failings need to remember what it was like before. Try remembering 300,000 people who lost their homes or three million people unemployed.

As for suggesting that Ivor Caplin is deserting a sinking ship, remember this is the man who stood for Hove at a time when the notion of a Labour MP in the town was a huge joke.

For all Ivor's faults, being a coward is not one of them; I for one am saddened by his decision not to stand again. He was one of the few areas of talent in a Government of fools and idiots.

The fact that this Government thinks the way to reduce crime is to de-criminalise shoplifting is just one example.

As for suggested alternatives, the Liberals have had their day while the Greens, who have some very good people, are held back by members who refuse to accept the realities of the real world. We are not going to give up our cars and no amount of wishful thinking is going to make us.

At the next election, I will be working again, this time for UKIP. It is not a question of being anti-Europe. It is about giving British people the right to decide their own destiny.

-Stuart Bower, Upper Beeding