CAN I thank the 6,042 people who voted for Labour in Hereford and South Herefordshire on May 7, securing us third place in the popular vote ahead of the Lib Dems with a much-increased vote than in 2010.

I assure them that I will remain campaigning in the constituency in the interests of ordinary people. I will continue, along with my Labour colleagues, to call Jesse Norman and the Tory majority on Herefordshire Council to account.

I hope that I am wrong to paraphrase a more famous Labour loser from the past to say "Don’t be young, don’t be sick and don’t be poor in the new Tory world."

On a more positive note I am delighted by the large numbers of applications to join the local Labour party that have come in during and since the election.

ANNA CODA, Labour candidate, Hereford and South Herefordshire Consitiuency