Sir Vince Cable a real contender

Sir, - Should age be a factor in determining who should be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats at United Kingdom level?

Sir Vince Cable, now 74, is a contender.

One thing the recent general election campaign has shown is that younger voters were prepared to back integrity and vigour despite the advancing years of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Had he had a bit more experience of actually running a government, it is possible that his party might have done even better.

Sir Vince Cable is not short of experience in government although he had very mixed fortunes in the 2010-15 coalition.

He should take some credit for helping to introduce the triple-lock on pensions, and rises to the threshold for paying tax to help the lower paid.

His expertise in economics and industry was invaluable in helping to start reform of the banking system after the crash of 2008.

Against that, of course, he will be forever tainted with the broken Liberal Democrat pledge on tuition fees in England.

Although he was once described as the moral compass of the coalition, it will be difficult for him to shed the image of someone who simply collaborated with a ConA servative-dominated administration.

But when Liberal Democrat members ponder whether to support him, surely they must ask themselves a simple question: do we want to be a party of government or a party of protest?

Sir Vince’s considerable experience of both should be enough to gain their confidence. Bob Taylor. 24 Shiel Court, Glenrothes.

The fears that the troubles could be reignited are too real and there has been a number of indications in recent times that there is still a simmering threat