Labour play dirty again at election time

During the recent local elections, Labour ran a negative and dirty campaign based on a series of lies about the Council’s record under the Welsh Liberal Democrat leadership. Below we set the record straight on a number of their claims:

• The Metro bus is being paid for by First Cymru not the Council. The cost of road works are being met by a grant from the Labour Assembly Government. That is because it was their idea!
• The Council has not cut funding to schools as Labour allege. In fact the Welsh Lib Dems have increased it year-on-year despite a poor grant settlement from the Labour Assembly Government. We are spending more per pupil than the Government say we should. Of course if our Labour Councillors don’t think that is enough then why did they not move an amendment to the Council’s budget on this issue in February? Instead, they sat on their hands.
• The actual cost of the Council’s e-government computer programme is contained within the budget set for it by the previous Labour Administration. It was a necessary investment to keep the Council running and to improve our service to the public. That is why Labour proposed it in the first place!
• There have never been plans to stop weekly rubbish collections and nor are there now. The only people who proposed this are Labour Ministers in the Assembly. In fact the Labour Environment Minister is still urging local Councils to do this in the Assembly on a regular basis.
• Road maintenance has in fact been increased and we have set up a rolling programme so that all areas get the benefit from it. Thanks to us, kerbside garden rubbish and kitchen waste collections will be available to all homes next year.

And they had the cheek to accuse us of running a dirty campaign, and of telling lies, when all we did was ask questions regarding the dangerous junction between Clasemont Road and Vicarage Road!

Morriston Labour on the ropes!

The Morriston Lib Dems have slashed Labour’s majority by a half in the 2008 local council elections!

Helen Ceri Clarke finished only 141 votes behind the fifth Labour candidate, just 0.7% of the 20,460 votes cast. Speaking after the election, she said:

"The Morriston Lib Dems and I would like to thank the people of Morriston for their support, and for this ringing endorsement of our work in the local area. Despite failing to unseat Labour this time, we will continue to work for local people, free of charge, all year round."