The Conservatives did badly in the local elections generally across the country and the results in the wards outside of Bexhill tended to follow the national pattern. However the results within the Bexhill wards, where 12 Conservative councillors lost their seats, cannot be blamed on the issue of Brexit, it was primarily due to the issue of a town council for Bexhill. Brexit is the most contentious issue this country has faced for many years. It has split families, political parties and broken friendships and these divisions have been exacerbated by sensational headlines in the tabloid press and social media sites. The experiences of our local MP, as recorded recently in these pages, is a sad refection on the state of political debate in our country at present and the opinion expressed by one of your correspondents last week that the Rother Alliance is based on hatred is in a similar, inflammatory vein. The Rother Alliance is a group of individuals from varied political backgrounds who have joined together not in hatred but in love – the love of democracy and the desire to ensure that the will of the people of Bexhill to have their own town council will at last be respected.