SIR – John Hall asks for facts when writing about Nick Clegg (Letters, August 9).

Here are three damning facts. The Liberal Democrats gave a solemn pledge to abolish tuition fees if they were to gain power. They went into power in a coalition, which handed them the balance of power in a hung parliament. The coalition agreement promptly tripled tuition fees.

Apparently Nick Clegg had never agreed with the Liberal Democrat position on tuition fees, so he sold out on a solemn pledge. He then said the pledge was made in the knowledge that they would never form the next government – but they did form part of the next government. A pledge is a pledge, and this is what people remember.

Secondly, he demanded a referendum on proportional representation as part of the deal. What he got was a referendum on AV, which is not proportional and was a system that he had previously deemed as a shabby compromise. The Tories promptly campaigned against and he lost.

On House of Lords reform he was derailed by Conservative Party backbenchers who wanted to retain the patronage that goes along with a deeply undemocratic institution. So, we have a broken pledge and two failed Liberal Democrat initiatives. The public will judge Nick Clegg on these three facts, not what was in their last manifesto, John.

Ian Parsons, Alexandra Road, Eccleshill