A polite letter to my Labour opposite number

I dropped off a letter at the home of Peter de Vere this morning. He is the Labour candidate in my ward. I haven't spoken to him before. He didn't bother turning up for the local election count this year so I didn't get to speak to him then. Maybe he was totally confident of winning, or maybe he was totally confident of losing. Not sure what his motives for not turning up were but he got 20 percent to my 70 percent so I guess it was the latter.

Anyway, he has decided to promote a Labour leaflet which contains some incredible, glaring inaccuracies and false information. As a result I felt obliged to write to him, and Elaine Donson, Labour's losing candidate for the neighbouring ward who is also alleged to be the editor of this publication, to point out that we are informing our constituents that the information they have circulated is inaccurate. Our Focus newsletter contains language which is a little bit more colourful about their claims!

One of the claims made by Labour is that across the Tyne in Newcastle, the Lib Dem run council introduced a recycling scheme at the cost of millions which had to be abandoned immediately, wasting the millions spent. This whole saga is simply made up by Labour. No such reversal or waste of millions ever happened. This of course makes rebuttal easier!

I am of course willing to be generous and have offered the two Labour candidates the opportunity to have a retraction included in a future copy of Focus!

There was someone in a car on the drive of the house where Mr de Vere lives when I delivered the letter this morning. Whoever it was didn't get out to speak to me. Instead, the person drove off down the street.

Mr de Vere's leaflet also justifies Labour's position on our village Post Office in Sunniside. The village was up in arms earlier this year when Labour kicked out an application to install a cash machine in the branch - it would be the only 24 hour cash machine in the village and I handed in a petition of over 200 signatures in favour of the plan. I found it surprising that Labour have decided to return to this issue. Labour have won no points from the people on their stance. But perhaps Mr de Vere is setting out to make himself the most unpopular man in the village! And Paul, our vlllage postmaster has given us a quote for our Focus which says what he thinks about what Labour have done.

Mind you, no one will be able to respond directly to Mr de Vere. His contact details on his leaflet are actually those for a Labour councillor for a ward miles away. And I have plenty of constituents who want to give him a piece of their mind!

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