I ave been asked several times in the last few days about only having one ballot paper for the 'local' election and none for the national election.

After enquiry I discovered some people assumed they got a vote for their local MP and then one for the Prime Minister/ Party as their national vote.

Just to confirm there is no local and national ballot -just the one! You get one vote for who you want as your local MP. It is then the Party with a clear majority that forms the government and the leader of that party is asked to be Prime Minister. So Brown, Clegg and Cameron will not be on your ballot papers.

That is why you should think about who you want representing you in Parliment next week. It should be the person you want to speak up for our area who you think can do the job best.

In view of the fact that it looks like it may be a 'hung parliament' if the polls are to be believed, who do you think would have the experience to get the Loughborough voice heard is also going to be vital.