LIB DEM LIES - Letter (04/02/05)

There are lies, damn lies and then there are Liberal Democrat press releases and letters. Last week we read in your letters page the Lib Dem constituency agent denying that their Parliamentary Candidate worked in London. Unfortunately the same edition said that he was going to have to give up his London job to come to Taunton to full-time electioneer.

The old carpetbagger hasn't started too well. He insinuates in your article on page 12* that it is the Tories have a majority on the Regional Assembly who are responsible for the massive housing developments being shoehorned into Taunton's diminishing green fields. Not true, and he knows it. The Conservatives have 31 seats out of 117 on the Regional Assembly, which was set up by the Lib Dems and is now responsible for the Spacial Strategy which imposes these housing figures on us. Alan Paul, another Lib Dem who finds it difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction, claims the Assembly has taken no powers from local Authorities, well I think the power to decide for ourselves where we develop is pretty important.

You report on page 4 about the Tories attempt to have the expensive and unnecessary assembly disbanded. Who kicked that into touch? You guessed it.. the Liberal Democrats. Not only can they not tell the truth, they can't even agree to tell the same lies. Don't give up the day job Mr Browne!

John Smeaton,

County Councillor for Blackdown & Wellington East, Somerset County Council

Somerset County Gazette - 28 January 2005