As a long-standing member of the Liberal Democrats, I share John Rowe's critique of the government (Letters, 10 February) ? "... NHS is destroyed, schools handed over to anyone with the money ... millions pushed out of work". There might have been a case for Liberal Democrats to join the coalition last May, when the governor of the Bank of England was warning of a meltdown in the bond markets if a government with a secure majority was not formed. But there is no case now, when there is more concern at cuts which threaten the capacity of the economy to grow and pay down the deficit.
John Rowe calls on Lib Dem MPs to "show some courage and bring this government down". I believe that in about 12 weeks' time, when the AV referendum will be over (with whatever outcome), and thousands of good Lib Dem councillors may have lost their seats on the altar of rabid, misguided pre-Keynesian economics, there may indeed be movement in this direction. The party's autumn conference would be an opportunity for a leadership challenge to secure a change of direction.
Philip Pavey
Epsom, Surrey
? John Rowe does well to remind us that the Tories did not win the election and have been carrying out measures not in any of the coalition partners' manifestos, but his appeal to the Lib Dems to back out from the coalition will never be heeded while the Lib Dems are trailing so badly in the polls. They won't want to risk being wiped out electorally. So the Tories have gained doubly: they have used the Lib Dems as a shield for their actions and, in doing so, have created conditions for a persistent government. The Tories are therefore in a better position than if they had won the election.
Tony Vinicombe
Shoreham, West Sussex
? Polly Toynbee (Comment, 12 February) is right to highlight Nick Clegg's misrepresentation of council-related job losses in Lib Dem-run Sheffield, but the position is even worse than she suggests. Many further redundancies have been outsourced by the reduction of grants to those organisations responsible for providing municipal services. In addition, with breathtaking cynicism, the Lib Dems have postponed many difficult decisions on potential cuts until after the May elections, when they expect to lose power to Labour.
Labour, Sheffield Central
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/14/electoral-dilemmas-for-liberal-democrats
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