DURING the election campaign, I heard much about Marie Rimmer. On social media, in the street, on the doorstep, a recurring theme was 'anyone but Marie'. This cannot have gone unnoticed. Ms Rimmer must have heard this vitriol herself, more than once.

But the truth is, regardless of what's happened in the past, Marie is proving to be a great defender of the town. I stood fro the Green party at the general election and met Marie a few times over the campaign; each time she spoke to me with grace and respect. She never displayed the attributes the doorstep spoke of, in fact the only person that did was a member of her own party and Marie calmed the situation down diplomatically and restored peace.

I am an avid watcher of BBC Parliament. Pretty much without fail, Marie is there.

At first I thought this would be early bloom of dedication, but nearly three months on t's still the same.

She is asking questions, providing an opposition and she sits on the All Parliamentary Rugby League committee, which for a St Helens lass is great! She may not be the quickest on Twitter but my Facebook feed portrays images of letters she has sent to constituents.

And most importantly, to see a woman from my town, that didn't go to Oxbridge, that has acres of life experience, sit amongst the Westminster elite – and hold her own, can only be a good thing. She is proving everyone wrong, especially myself.

I'm leaving the town this week to start a new job in London. Like so many of my friends that left for university, St Helens doesn't provide the career opportunities we crave and the bigger cities call. My politics is still green. I believe in protecting the environment, equal opportunities and social justice. I still firmly believe that Labour is no longer the party it was and decent socialists are few and far between. However I will admit that I didn't believe in Marie. But I was wrong. A lot of us were. And as I leave for pastures new, I feel pleased our wonderful town is being represented with dedication.

Elizabeth Ward, Dentons Green