THE resignation of Alice Mahon from the party she has served for 50 years is the clearest evidence yet that the fabric of the Labour Party is now unravelling and coming apart at the seams. It is also an act of great integrity for which I applaud her.

Not only does Mrs Mahon "find it impossible these days to try to defend many of the party's policies" but she has been further disillusioned regarding the circumstances leading to the appointment of Stephenie Booth as Labour's Calder Valley Parliamentary candidate.

Over recent months it has been a matter of some speculation among outsiders as to the extent of the internal strife in the local Labour Party. My own conclusion is that panic has started to set in, from the top to the bottom of the party. Not despair, panic.

The Titanic is going down and some are rushing for the lifeboats (Alice Mahon) while others are rearranging the deckchairs (the local Labour Party). And at No.10 Captain Brown is facing the harsh reality that he has steered HMS Great Britain headlong into possibly the worst global downturn in economic history.

And can he rely on his crew in this crisis? Well, what with his Home Secretary's expenses blunders on the one hand and his Special Adviser's appalling emails on the other, he must be wondering whether he's destined to be shipwrecked on the shores of history or drowned in a sea of embarrassment.

Either way, it's not looking good for Mr Brown and the Labour Party. As Nick Clegg remarked in a recent speech to the Liberal Democrats in Harrogate, Labour is now "a spent match".

The burning issue we face as a country is how we wish to be governed in the future. The only real and radical alternative to the Conservatives, who seem to have been shocked into an almost deafening silence by the current crisis, is the Liberal Democratic alternative.

Alice Mahon is grieving for the "progressive and caring" party that Labour used to be. And many good Labour activists and voters I know are feeling the same way. I hope that many of them will see the desire for social justice and the progressive, green policies of the Lib Dems as worthy of their support.

Across Calderdale and across the country as a whole, Labour could soon be sliding rapidly into third place.

Hilary Myers,

Lib Dem PPC Calder Valley