I WAS completely disgusted by Royston Smith’s latest In My View, in which he defended his decision to cancel a meeting with the Ford unions. His reasons were that the council did not want to be associated with a damaging political protest happening outside, and that many of the people at the rally were allegedly members of the SWP (although he offers no evidence to back up that assertion/slur). In any event- what on earth has any of that got to do with the future of the Ford plant? Royston Smith is in office to stand up for the people of Southampton, not to worry about his own image and snub people whose politics he doesn’t like. Get over yourself Royston and start showing both your job and the people of this city some basic respect.

Richard Green, former Labour candidate for Millbrook.