I feel I must respond to councillors Suzanne Evans, Richard Hilton and Rod Scott’s letter in last week’s Wimbledon Guardian.

Their refusal to stand down and allow a byelection on the basis byelections cost taxpayers money and the elected representative will only be in office for eight months, is quite frankly futile.

Since when is our democracy subject to time and money?

Calling for a byelection is not questioning the councillors’ dedication to their jobs or whether they work hard.

It simply gives the residents of their ward a democratic voice.

It strikes me that this great flaw we have in our democratic system, whereby an elected representative can switch parties and ultimately ideology to their own accord, is undemocratic.

The councillors were not elected under the UKIP banner.

UKIP received a very small number of votes in the 2010 elections, and now they are the third largest party in Merton.

That is simply not democracy. If the councillors were to be re-elected under the UKIP banner, then there would be no quarrel.

As a member of the Merton Green Party, I must further respond to Coun Evans’ accusation the Merton Green Party is playing opportunistic party politics, while she in the mean time acted on following her principles.

Aside from the national media exposure, including an interview on the Daily Politics Show, and running YouTube video campaigns for the UKIP party that has thrust her into the national media spotlight, it seems strange to me, for an elected representative to not recognize the most simple and basic democratic principle we have in Britain.

The right to choose who, and what party represent us locally and nationally. That is the Merton Green Party’s first and most important principle.

If any councillor in Merton wants to defect to the Green Party, we will only accept their membership on the basis they stand down, and allow a byelection, to allow the residents to say whether they agree with their change of political view.

This may not have happened in the past, when none of our current members were members of the Green Party, but this is now our policy.

And this has nothing to do with the councillors choice to join UKIP. Had they defected to Labour or the Liberal Democrats, the Merton Green Party would also be calling for a byelection.

Let democracy decide.

Dominik Leeson
Merton Green Party