Tactical voting

Danny Alexander reaches a new low in the time-
honoured political charade of presenting disastrous defeat as a victory that might have been. He blames Lib Dem voters “understandably” abandoning their party by voting tactically to support the Conservatives to keep Ukip out of the Commons in the Newark by-election (your report, 7 June).

Such woeful logic emphasises the folly of coalition government with a minor party of limited talent. The Tories poured massive effort into Newark, yet their vote share fell by almost 9 per cent. Meanwhile, the Lib Dem vote share nose-dived by more than 17 per cent. This suggests to me that not many of their deserters transferred to the Tories, though Mr Alexander considers it “clear” that they did so. On what evidence, may I ask?

Copying Mr Alexander’s redefinition of a thumping defeat, I would suggest that most of the missing Lib Dem supporters “voted” tactically by not voting at all.

Robert Dow

Ormiston Road

Tranent, East Lothian