I refer to the letter from Coun D’Agorne (Tables turned?, Letters, May 20). I remember the negotiations surrounding a possible “rainbow coalition” for City of York Council in May 2007.

Coun D’Agorne was desperate for such a coalition so that he could have an executive position. There seemed no obstacles to him.

However, for me (and the Labour Party) there were clear issues of principle that set us apart from the other parties, the principles just days before I had campaigned on. Unlike Coun D’Agorne, I would not give those up. It was not power at any price.

Had we joined a coalition, who would have held the executive to account on the waste of Hungate, the scandal of the Barbican and there still being no replacement swimming pool, to name just three?

For 2011, I say to those thinking of voting Green, vote for a party with principles that will last beyond the election campaign. Labour are the only alternative to the local Lib-Dem/Conservative alliance.

David Scott, Labour councillor for Clifton, Sandringham Street, York.