HELEN DOUGLAS’ decision to switch from Labour to Conservative might retain a semblance of credibility if she had not stood for re-selection as a Labour candidate only two months ago.

If she felt so strongly about the “national”, and indeed the “local” direction of Labour, it would be interesting to ask her why she stood for re-selection then and what seemingly changed her mind between July and September.

On the same topic, I was also intrigued by an interesting – although bizarre – observation made by the chairman of York Conservatives on Twitter in which he stated [in] “a local election... you vote for the councillor, never a party”. Does that mean that all current and future Tory councillors will campaign for election under their own name rather than under the Conservative banner?

Richard Bridge, Holgate Road, York.